June / July 2016

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June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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Stylus

Apr/May Issue2 2016 Volume27

Production Team Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gil Carroll Assistant Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria King Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelly Campbell

On the Cover Driven by her insatiable curiosity about the inner workings of life at all scales, SARAH THIESSEN creates art which is at once playful and rich with symbolism.

See more of Sarah’s work at: sarahtonin.carbonmade.com”

Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Theissen Advertising Contact . . . . . . . . . Rob Schmidt

manager@ckuw.ca Print by JRS Print Services . . . 204-232-3558

Contributors Sarah Theissen Talula Schlegel Rob Hill Andre Cornejo Bryn Rieger Laura Friesen Alex Roberecki Rachel Narvey Samuel Nowicki Sarah O’Driscoll Chris Bryson Luke Sekundiak Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrel Eric Roberts

Stylus is published bi–monthly by CKUW 95.9 FM, with a circulation of 2,500. Stylus serves as the program guide to 95.9FM CKUW and will reflect the many musical communities it supports within Winnipeg and beyond. Stylus strives to provide coverage of music that is not normally written about in the mainstream media. Stylus acts as a vehicle for the work of new writers, photographers and artists, including members of the University of Winnipeg, of CKUW and of the Winnipeg community at large. Stylus reserves the right to refuse to print material, specifically, that of a racist, homophobic or sexist nature. All submissions may be edited and become the property of Stylus. All opinions expressed in Stylus are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors.

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

Stylus Magazine Bulman Student Centre, University of Winnipeg 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9 Phone: 204-786-9785, Fax: 204-783-7080 Writing submissions: editor@stylusmagazine.ca Graphics submissions: design@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 CKUW Program Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CKUWho The Electric Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Prairie Punk Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Reviews Orlando Gloom // Beach Station Blues // Supermoon // Teen // and more . . . 17

Features Floor Cry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Freak Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 iansucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Native North America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Besnard Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 TOPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 J Riley Hill: Mortfell Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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BLAHBLAHBLAH Summertime and the living is easy. Winnipeg is a beautiful place to be to see and experience music and culture. Put on your sunscreen and cool sunglasses and check out some live music.*** Meatloaf is at the MTS Centre on Thursday, June 9 *** June 10, Montreal’s Plants & Animals play at the Good Will Social Club with Slow Spirot *** Mobina Galore, Union Stockyards, Lonewolfe, and Badpants are at the Good Will on Saturday, June 11. Trampoline release their EP Sometimes a Song is just a Cigar at the Handsome Daughter and The Heights have a CD release at the Pyramid *** What could be better on a Monday night? The Handsome Daughter and Big Fun Festival presents Crosss (TO), Blessed (VN), Fox Lake, and Greenhouse on June 13, while Gang Signs are at the Pyramid *** Tuesday June 14 sees City and Colour and Shakey Graves at the MTS Centre, while LAL release

Find Safety at the Good Will Social Club. *** Winnipeg Jazz Festival is bringing in some world-renowned acts from June 16 - 26, including Kamasi Washington at the Burton Cummings Theatre on June 21, Tortoise on June 23 at the West End Cultural Centre, and Peter Bjorn and John at the Burton Cummings Theatre on June 24 *** Moka Only is at the Handsome Daughter with Robbie G, Abstract Artform, Rup Monsta, Skryp tha Keeper, Ari IQ, Khan Vikshyn, and Dag on Thursday June 16 *** Friday June 17 is Reggae in da Night at the Good Will Social Club.

The WECC hosts the inaugural Unplugged Punk show - local punkers strip down to acoustic versions of your fave tunes. Line up includes Chris Sawatzky, Johannes Lodewyks, Joanne Rodriguez, Ryan McConnell, and Martin LaFreniere. Over at the Handsome Daughter is Painted Fruit with The Zorgs, M&M Meats and Johnny De Courcy *** Voivod are at the Good Will Social Club with King Parrot and Child Bite on Sat-

urday June 18 *** June 19, Angel Olsen with Scott Tuma at the Park Theatre *** Monday, June 20, SWMRS are at the Pyramid *** The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra performs with Indian City, Sierra Noble, Ray St. Germain, Errol Ranville, Don Amero, Jay Bodner, and Rhonda Head on June 22 *** Indie Rock pioneers, Built to Spill play at the Pyramid Cabaret on June 23 *** June 24 - 26 is Real Love Summer Fest in Gimli featuring 29 bands, including Besnard Lakes, Tops, Advanced Base, Mahogany Frog, Basic Nature, Animal Teeth, Magicperm and more *** Saturday July 2 is Mahogany Frog, Apollo Suns, and Odd Outfit at the Handsome Daughter *** Insane Clown Posse are at the Pyramid Cabaret on Wednesday July 6 *** Winnipeg Folk Festival is back from July 7-10 at Birds Hill Park. The lineup features The Head and the Heart, Andy Shauf, Sam Roberts Band, and Lord Huron. You can read our feature on the Saturday daytime Native North America show on page 12 *** The

AIDAN KNIGHT AT THE GOOD WILL www.stylusmagazine.ca

Soca Reggae Festival runs July 8-10 in Old Market Square *** Astral Gunk is at the Handsome Daughter on Friday July 8 *** Saturday July 9 is a killer - Garrett Klahn (Texas is the Reason), Slates, Boys’ Club, and Elder Abuse at the Handsome Daughter *** Seaway is at the Good Will on Wednesday July 13 with Coldfront, Rarity, and locals Dangercat. HIGHS are at the Handsome Daughter with Adam Hanney & Co. *** On Saturday July 16, it’s sure to be stellar: Jay Arner with Cannon Bros, Supermoon, and Sam Singer *** At the Handsome Daughter on Thursday July 17 is War Baby, Fox Lake, and Permanent Mistake *** July 21 is Limblifter with Diablo at the Handsome Daughter. *** Got listings? E-mail them to editor@stylusmagazine.ca

PHOTO BY ERIC ROBERTS June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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FLOOR CRY

It’s midday, and Felicia Sekundiak is sitting across from me at Starbucks, blue eyes lighting up as we discuss some of our favourite shows we’ve been to.

She mentions Beach House at the Pyramid two years ago, as well as having seen Mac DeMarco twice.

“It was wild,” she says, describing the most recent time the musician visited Winnipeg.

“He just jumped into the audience. It’s a crazy story, like ‘oh yeah! I touched Mac DeMarco’s sock!’ But it’s also such a weird thing to remember as being important. When you meet someone you admire, you ask them to sign your arm or write on your body, but when you really think about it, stuff like that is so strange.”

Sekundiak openly admits it’s in her nature to look at everything through a closer lens. She can name several instances when she’s ignored the present moment to overanalyze.

“You’re just hanging out with your friends, you’re talking about some party or something, and you’re sitting there thinking about death,” she laughs.

“My mind doesn’t shut off.”While Sekundiak’s project Floor Cry is born from daydreaming and dissecting everyday moments, in some ways it’s also a means for Sekundiak to step outside that worrying mindset, if only for a second. On May 13, she played her first show at the Good Will Social Club.

“When I started making music I told myself I’d never be able to play a live show,” she says.

“I can be super critical of myself, I’m such a self doubter, but suddenly I just had this thought like, why not. Why don’t I just say yes to everything?

What’s the worst that could happen? I could stop breathing and die, but you know... probably not.”

There’s a delightful edge to Sekundiak’s personality, something that contributes to the presentation of her music. The name Floor Cry itself is a play on war cry, an outburst of emotion or expression that is intended to be aggressive, powerful. Sekundiak twists that notion and makes it something intimate, me l a n chol i c.

The cover

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BY RACHEL NARVEY ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY CAMPBELL FROM PHOTO BY LUKE SEKUNDIAK

art for Caterpillar Daydreams, her most recent album, features an image you might find on the walls of a kindergarten classroom.

“It looks really childish and happy,” Sekundiak describes. “But I wrote these songs in what I would call the hardest period of my life.

They’re pretty depressing. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to immortalize that, though.

It becomes a positive when you can move on.”

Although Sekundiak admits that she’s in a constant state of existential crises, w h e n

she speaks it’s hard to ignore her unbridled optimism. Caterpillar Daydreams wasn’t only chosen to invoke memories of an Eric Carle picture book, but to hint at an eventual metamorphoses. A caterpillar can always hope t o

one day become a butterfly.

“I’m not there yet!” Sekundiak laughs.

“But I’m going into the cocoon now. Now that (the album’s) out I feel like I can go into the cocoon and transform.”

Sekundiak’s life has already begun to change since she first made her music public on Soundcloud. One producer from Chicago, ODDEEO, asked for permission to remix one of Sekundiak’s songs. Sekundiak was so impressed with the results that the two are planning a future collaboration.

“(Now that I’m playing shows) I’ve met so many people,” Sekundiak says. “People will like my Facebook page and I’ll check them out. I didn’t realize there was such a big music community in Winnipeg. It’s really exciting.”

To be in the company of so many likeminded musicians is a treat for Sekundiak.

She mentions that not only has the experience opened her eyes to her city, but it’s provided motivation.

“I absolutely love when people just go for their dreams,” she says. “When they’re passionate and talking about what they love and doing what they love. Because you realize eventually, if you don’t go for what you want, nothing good’s going to come out of that. It inspires me to keep going.”

Find Floor Cry online at floorcry.bandcamp.com

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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F R E A K Y O G A

PART ONE OF THREE AND A HELL OF A NIGHT WITH SMRT, GRIMACE, AND BLACK PHILLIP

BY ANDRE CORNEJO

I only started to become aware of how sharp of a turn into the weird things had taken when I started listening to the tapes that were scattered around my room the next day.

Moments of ritualistic chanting, phrases repeated until words lost all meaning. “Salmon sandwiches, sssaaaaalmonnn saaanndwiiiichesss . . . Harrison Ford, what would Harrison Ford do?” At points, the sounds coming out of people were hardly human, much less English. Waves of people moving in and out of the room. Three soft voices in a kind of dissociative state, overtaken by a loud burst of late arrivers, who were bathed in a very different shade of the chemical spectrum. These new voices were frenzied, tense, and afflicted with a terrible case of verbal dysentery. Garrulous, in that most of the things they were shouting at

StylusMagazine Magazine June/July June/July2016 2016 06 Stylus

PHOTO BY ANDRE CORNEJO that point, roughly five in the morning, were void of any real intent or sensibility. “Reason” was an obsolete term, that had no place within the walls of my apartment. “Preservation,” a wall torn down with reckless abandon.

An evening that had started as an interview, turned into a full blown session of Freak Yoga: a stretching and bending of the brain into impossible positions. Nobody got any sleep that night, except for my roommate Chad, who had retired into recovery position on the living room couch, and I assume SMRT, who I last remember making his way down a back lane toward Corydon Avenue before a thick fog enveloped my mind.

Of course, this is all secondary to what I really intended to write about on the night that all of

the chaos erupted. I had the pleasure of doing a group interview with local hip hop artists SMRT, Grimace, and Black Phillip. All of whom, I strongly believe, are at the forefront of an emerging musical frontier in the city. We sat down with a couple of microphones, roughly 20 beers and a bottle of rum, to discuss performance, crowd connectivity, and feelings regarding relocating to a bigger city to “make it.”

Andre: So as far as introductions go, who are you, and what do you do?

Black Phillip: Here we go. My fucking name is Michael, I don’t really have an official name for my projects.

SMRT: “Lil’ Stank.”

Black Phillip: I have a bunch of joke names.

BP: Listen, I’m still working on the name, I guess for shows and shit. [In regards to gigs] I’m there for my friends. Regardless of whether I’m in the crowd or in the bathroom, I’m there for them, doing my thing, backing them up. And if they ask me to get up on stage with them, then I’m up there jumpin’ around, doing my fucking thing.

Andre: Moving down the line we have?

Grimace: Oh hi, I’m Ciara.

BP: TALK LOUDER. G: Hello! My name is Ciara. I like to make things, and then I say that my name is Grimace, because you’re supposed to do that or something. I don’t know, I just relate to the word Grimace. It means a lot of different things to me.

Andre: And last, but not least?

SMRT: My name is Mike also, and my band is called “SMRT.” But my band is just me, and it’s spelled S/M/R/T. People call it “smart,” but it’s actually a Czech word, and it means death, which is very metal.

A,BP,G: WHAT?!?!?!

Andre: That’s so sick!

G: I didn’t know that at all!

BP: Man, NOBODY knows that!

Andre: Is that legit?

SMRT: Yeah man.

Andre: What do you think makes you all stand out, and what will make you continue to stand out?

BP: I think more than ever, people are being encouraged to just be themselves. No matter how suss that sounds, you’re just encouraged more and more to just be an individual, and just do your fucking thing.

G: You shouldn’t be trying to emulate some other thing that’s been successful already. It doesn’t matter, just do whatever is real. If you really love music, if you like making shit, it’s not like you pick a genre and say “that’s what I’m into.” Sometimes I make a song that I want to rap over, and sometimes I wanna make some Depeche Mode synth shit.

BP: I met Ari (I.Q.), ended up moving in with him for a while, and honestly, he makes shit that I fucking truly love. We’ve played a bunch of shows together, he’s doing his fucking thing and I’m just stoked to be there. The first show that we did together was this fundraiser show at Maw’s. It was like, “we have a hip hop showcase for everybody, here’s ten hip hop artists for you guys, back to back.” It was cluttered, it was garbage, it was fucking trash, but we just fucked with everybody. The best show we ever did was with you guys, Dead Ranch, at the Sherbrook Inn. We didn’t know what we were walking into, you know what I mean? We went up and did the set, and at first the crowd was like, “what the fuck is going on?”

But once they saw the energy in it, they got into it and they were all about it.

Andre: Just how necessary is it for diversity in shows. At least, from my perspective, it’s important to cross over. I mean, It’s not like people going to those shows only like one kind of thing.

SMRT: Some people are just boring and they only like one kind of music.

BP: I don’t think those are the kind of people you want at your shows, know what I mean? The reality is, if you’re into sound, you’re into the entire spectrum of sounds.

SMRT: It’s the difference between people who think “we play this genre, so let’s be friends with everybody who makes this stuff,” as opposed to gravitating towards all kinds of people and music.

G: It was cool at the last show. I recognized a bunch

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of people that I see at the more “banger” shows, and they were fucking wild’n out. It’s just about energy.

SMRT: I would say rap and metal are equally good for moshing.

BP: Just to add to the crowd thing, Nixon had a show at the Good Will. I went to support the show, it was a rap show essentially. You know who Smitty is? Everybody knows who Smitty is. He was the last dude to go on. He goes on, and at this point I’m pretty drunk. Whatever, I’m just onstage listening to the music and shit, you know? Smitty is doing his set, and everybody is just fucking standing around being way too cool for the fucking show. Not dancing around, not doing anything. And like, his shit is fucking tight. I run up to the mic, I’m wasted at this point, but I’m also just choked. I grab the mic and start yelling, “why the fuck are you just standing around? Come closer, enjoy the set, and stop acting too cool for it.” Everybody looked at me. Nobody moved a goddamn muscle, and my heart hurt.

G: Awe man, that’s brutal.

SMRT: I was going to say, every time you do that it works.

G: It’s weird. Like, if you don’t have a raport with them, if they’re not “your people,” you have this whole other barrier you’re trying to cross. The show on Friday was the first time I was like, “this is a rap show.” To be fair, I’ve only done a handful of shows doing what I’m doing, but my friends were there, and I can’t speak to how huge that is. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I was putting myself out there like this, and nobody gave a shit.

BP: There were a lot of people there just for you, too.

Andre: Yeah, people were pushing me out of the way all night, screaming “Ciara! Ciara!”

G: How cute is that?! That’s so cool! I mean, when you go up there, and put yourself out there, it takes so much energy. And if you don’t have it reciprocated by the people that you’re performing for, it’s fucking brutal.

SMRT: What I gotta say is, if I keep it funky with you, you gotta keep it funky with me. But, also, sometimes I’ve had the most fun when I was on a really mismatched bill. Like, I think it was one of the first shows at the Good Will. I played first, and it was pretty much me and three indie bands. The crowd didn’t know what to do at all, but I had so much fun just fucking with them. I could immediately tell I really pissed off some people, and that was really fun. I used to like that more, but I guess now I enjoy it more when people like me.

G: Look at the difference between that Vans show, and the one at the Daughter. It was pretty much the same bill, but people just weren’t giving it up as hard at the Vans show.

BP: It needed fog and strobe lights, I’m telling you.

I’ve learned so much from Ari. Honestly, I can’t imagine him not being a part of my life with all of the shit he’s shown me. He’s heavy into raving, and he talks a lot about that kind of environment. It’s such a crazy dynamic. From being at like, a punk show, or a rap show or whatever it may be. When you’re at a rave, and there’s so much fog you can’t see shit in front of you, you have the feeling you can do whatever you want. You’re in your own little world.

Nobody’s judging you, know what I mean? You’re just on your own, letting loose, doing whatever the fuck you want in that moment.

It’s at this point in the playback of the first tape of the interview, that I hear the long, peculiar night, begin

to unfold.

BP: You go to this place where everyone is going wild and dancing. It’s a crazy thing man. It’s so hard to just try to talk about it to explain it. After I’ve gone through it I try to get everybody to come do the same thing. I don’t know, it’s so hard to explain.

You know when you go to a place and everybody have some kind of ego going? Imagine going to a place where you’re in a room and everyone’s let go of that completely. It’s completely stripped, and you’re looking around and everybody’s dancing around all crazy. Maybe for a minute you’re like, “wait, does that person maybe kinda look weird to others or something?” But nobody’s looking at anybody else, and they don’t give a fuck. Then you realize you can just let go of that and do the same thing. I can just dance around and go crazy, who cares? It’s such a crazy feeling and I adore that feeling so much.

G: Okay, so, back to what we were talking about.

Energy. Atmosphere. You were mentioning Ari, and how you guys like to get kind of a rave environment going. Which was awesome the other night, by the way. So, we did this thing called Snow Fort Reggae.

I guess Aaron, or Venetian Snares, and Jaymez (of Ghost Twin), started it up. It’s kind of an experimental electronic night full of weirdos. I think we’ve done four of them or something. Anyways, they got Mike and Sig to come and do their GUTTES HAAR shit. We got some fucking strobe lights, we tried to get a smoke machine going, but the Windsor apparently banned them because the fog sets off their fire alarms really easily. Though, halfway through your (Mike’s) set, some crazy person blew out this insane vape cloud. I was so stoked about it. I’ve never before cared about a vaporizer. So, you know how the Windsor has the big raised stage?

Well, Ciggy set up on the stage, and Mike set up right on the floor in front of it. He was running around socking people, and getting in people’s faces.

And the music they’re playing is this super heavy stuff. Kick on 1,2,3,4. There’s so much that the kind of industrial they’re playing has in common with rave shit. It’s this intense stuff that incites movement. Persistent, and aggressively rhythmic. People wanna dance! And then you have Mike there, bringing this, ‘punk rock’ energy to it. Between the crazy lights, and the flailing around, I just thought it was such an excellent use of energy and the room. It was awesome.

S: Just to add to that, I thought that show was goth.

BP: First fuckin’ show. It, like, overwhelmed me to see all the people that I love were there supporting me. I can’t even put it into words. That shit meant so much to me. It meant the world to me to see Ciara there, to see Mike there, didn’t see you there, Andre, you fucker.

Andre: Yeah I didn’t make it. I was in ugly shape.

G: That’s it. This interview’s over.

BP: Put some respect on my name Andre. That’s it, I’m out. Yeah, anyways, that shit means the world to me, and when I see the people I love coming out to the shows, I’m like a pig in shit.

G: But you’re like a pig in shit most of the time. Eating ass, indiscriminately.

BP: Haha, but really it’s awesome. I’m about to cry, I’m gonna cry.

Look for Freak Yoga Pt 2 in the August/September edition of Stylus.

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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“THIS IS THE SCARED PART OF OUR LIVES, THE PART THAT DOESN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO” An Interview with Emma Mayer and Ian Ellis of iansucks

BY LAURA FREISEN

I’m assigned to interview Winnipeg band iansucks, but tracking them all down and getting them in one room is a little tricky: Emma’s away at school in Australia, and David’s out of town right now. With some patience and only mild schedulefinagling, I do end up meeting in person with drummer and songwriter Ian Ellis at the Good Will, where bassist David Schellenberg and keyboardist Kelly Beaton pop in periodically when work is slow to add their two cents.

I quickly get the sense that Ian’s reticent and carefully considered thoughtfulness (his sense of self-deprecation is basically where the name iansucks came from) makes talking about the band way harder than being in the band - writing and playing songs and bringing them to life is the easy part. I arrive to the interview having listened to the album they have up on their Bandcamp, Boring Stuff Go Away, which is a collaboration between Ian and singer/songwriter Emma Mayer from back in 2014 before David and Kelly joined.

Those recordings are charmingly homemade and awkward and cautious. They excellently capture the weirdness and not-knowing-ness of not being a kid and not being an adult. The undercurrent running through all these songs is ‘what now?’

When we chat, Ian confirms this. Instead of talking at length about specific goals for the band or what the songwriting process is like, we instead end up ruminating on the weird scariness of finding something in your life that’s fun and fulfilling, and knowing that it’s probably not the responsible adult path to take. That can also delay the feeling that you’re an adult who somehow has all the answers, or at least the solutions to some of your problems.

“This is the scared part of our lives, the part that doesn’t know what to do,” Ian explains. He and Emma have found a way to make that uncertainty about life into something they can rely on: namely, the band. When we talked about work/ life/school/band balance, he mentioned that this is the most fun part of his life. “If this is the one thing that’s fun, you’d do it whether it’s good or bad for you.”

It’s easy to tell that having a way to express things that a lot of people are hesitant to talk about - fears, hurt feelings, insecurity - is important to Ian. The stakes are high. I was wondering how the songwriting partnership of him and Emma came about and how they’re able to be so open with one another. Turns out they’d been friends long before starting the band.

Emma and I emailed as well, and her equally thoughtful insights on the band and her relationship to it follow.

Stylus: Where does your impulse to write songs

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come from? How long have you been doing this?

Emma Mayer: My impulses to write songs come from boredom a lot of the time, or frustration or sadness. Usually I write songs to distract myself from something else I am supposed to be doing, like homework. I think that’s how most have started. I’ve only really been seriously writing songs since I was about 19 or so and in terms of collaboration with Ian we only really started writing together about two years ago. Before that it kind of started as Ian having these songs that he wanted somebody else to sing on or play a violin part on, and so I would just come to his house and sing or play whatever part he had written for me. It was just kind of a fun casual thing to do as part of our friendship. Eventually Ian had all of these songs that he wanted to release on an album and so we came up with a title and looked through my sketchbook for a drawing to use as our album art. I think of the first album as mostly Ian’s creation because I didn’t even really know he was thinking of putting out an album at all until he was like ‘hey, is it cool if I release this online?’

Stylus: What are your songs about? What do you prefer to write about?

EM: I think a lot of our older songs are about being sad, or tired, or songs to fall asleep to. Some of them were about being happy and in love, like “Fire” that Ian wrote, but I think the older ones are mostly about bad feelings we didn’t know how to deal with.

On our new album (which I hope is coming out this summer) and the songs that people hear us play at our shows are a bit more upbeat and happy feeling. I think we like to characterize ourselves as a ‘sad band,’ but I’m not sure our sound really reflects that - the content of the songs might, though. In terms of songs we’ve written in the last year or so they have been about a bunch of different things like sitting in a Robin’s Donuts after the end of a relationship, crying, and cute dogs. We write a lot about about relationships and love and depression. They are mostly about personal experiences, I guess. I think generally we write about our feelings or things we don’t want to talk about. So I guess that is a common theme. I would really like to write about happy feelings which I hope to do in the future. I think most of my old songs were written as ways to pass the time during times of intense depression. But I’m feeling happier lately so I hope my new songs can reflect that.

Stylus: What’s the relationship like between you and Ian in the band? Who takes on what roles, or how do you balance?

EM: We’re all really good friends, which makes practice and playing shows fun for us. We see each other almost every week (except for the last three months that I’ve been in Australia) - either at practice or at the Good Will or at each other’s houses. It’s really

PHOTO PRODIVED BY IANSUCKS a blessing to be in a band with some of your best friends. Ian takes on the most responsibility out of all of us. He is always writing and arranging and recording music. He books most of our shows and handles all the business-y stuff. I do some of the songwriting and composing too. We all also pitch in at writing our own parts during practices to help round out songs.

Stylus: How do you feel about performing? How often do you perform? Is it a fun thing for you?

EM: Performing is something that really terrifies me but is also something that I really love doing. It scares me and Ian a lot, I think. We play shows maybe once a month generally and usually we get really nervous and overly critical but I think it’s really good for us to do it. We’re both pretty shy people, I guess so we don’t exactly seek out the spotlight very often otherwise. I think the only reason we actually started performing was that about a year ago Micah Visser asked if I wanted to open for him at the Purple Room but I was too scared to play a set alone so I made Ian put together a band for us so we could play iansucks songs together. So that’s how Kelly and David ended up joining us. They are both very calm and collected and professional when it comes to performing so that really helps us I think.

Stylus: Has the band dynamic changed since Kelly and David joined?

EM: Before Kelly and David, it felt more like we were just producing music in our bedrooms - we didn’t have a setup that would enable us to perform or anything. So I don’t know that we really were a band before Kelly and David, actually. I think if anything I feel more confident and positive since David and Kelly have joined. I think before them, Ian and I were more likely to nitpick and shut down our ideas. Now it’s kind of like we can throw our ideas out there and talk about them more objectively. We definitely accomplish a lot more now that we have them as part of our band.

Stylus: Is writing and performing and being in the band a release or catharsis of some kind?

Or what kind of role does the band serve in your life?

EM: I would definitely say that being in the band is a big release in my life. Playing and performing and practising is a really amazing outlet for frustrations and anxiety and really helps to pump us up. I think we all generally feel r eally good and revved up, if you will after, after practice. That’s definitely something I’ve really missed these last couple months that we’ve been on hiatus with me studying in Australia.

I’m really looking forward to coming home to Winnipeg and playing music again.

Find iansucks online at iansucks.bandcamp.com

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June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

09

N AT I V E N O RT H AMERICA AT T H E W I N N I P E G F O L K F E S T I VA L

BY VICTORIA KING

It’s not only one of the most anticipated shows planned for this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival, but potentially one of the most unique and historic shows to be hosted in Winnipeg in recent years.

Supported by APTN, Native North America: A Selection of Musical Trailblazers is set to hit the Bur Oak stage on Saturday July 9 at 2 pm. The performance will bring together five of the artists featured on one of the most well-received albums of 2014, Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985. The album was released in November of 2014 via Seattle-based record label Light in the Attic Records.

It featured the music of 23 different musicians and bands, all identifying as Indigenous, from various parts of North America with material released between 1966 and 1985. It was also music that was largely ignored, underfunded, and overlooked by the larger public eye at that point in history.

The album was compiled and curated by Kevin ‘Sipreano’ Howes, a Canadian DJ and music archivist who spent the last 15 years actively searching out the music for the compilation. “The goal of the whole project is to bridge generations, cultures, and eras of technology,” Howes explains. “One of the reasons why I did this compilation is to raise awareness about what these artists are doing today, in the present.”

In the context of the national folk fest circuit, this upcoming show at the Folk Fest will

WILLY MITCHELL AND THE DESERT BAND

IMAGE COURTESY OF ARTIST

10 Stylus Magazine June/July 2016

BACKGROUND IMAGE: SHINGOOSE (LEFT) AND DUKE REDBIRD, COURTESTY OF DUKE REDBIRD

be unique to Winnipeg folkies; this summer, it’ll be one of if not the only, stage to bring these musicians back together. While there have been other NNAV1-hosted shows across the country (Vancouver, Toronto, Yellowknife) since the project’s release, the upcoming show at the Winnipeg Folk Festival will be the first time that a NNA show has had over two artists on the compilation appearing together on stage.

The album was nominated for the Best Historical Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. Despite this, Howes says he still had trouble booking the compilation as a live show. “I really appreciate Chris Frayer’s belief in the project,” Howes cites. “I had pitched it to other festivals and the Winnipeg Folk Festival was the only one that saw it as something viable and interesting, and something that should be on stage.”

Chris Frayer, artistic director for the Winnipeg Folk Festival, says that he was a big fan of the NNAV1 box set, and was excited about the prospect of bringing the recordings to life on a Folk Fest stage. Frayer says that despite the age of the recordings, the music by these artists is, as he describes, “part of a creative continuum of music by Aboriginal peoples in Canada. This music is still very much alive and contemporary.”

Frayer explains that there’s been a lot of effort to bring in the artists off this compilation, “some from remote regions of the country.” “They’re not so young anymore - some of these musicians are

ERIC LANDRY

in their 70s and can’t travel the same way someone a bit younger could.”

“It’s an extension of what many of the artists, but not all of them, were doing together in the 1970s and 80s as part of the folk fest circuit at different venues across the country,” Howes elaborates.

Duke Redbird is one of those artists. He is credited on the compilation for his poetry on the track “Silver River,” alongside his friend and longtime musical partner, Shingoose. Now 77 years old, Redbird still writes, primarily spoken word and hip hop, and performs under the MC name M.T. Pockets (“I’m probably the oldest rap artist in Toronto,” he says).

“Silver River” first appeared on Native Country, a 7” EP, recorded in 1975. At the time, the album was only sold at live gigs and at surrounding record stores, but was never widely distributed or heard on radio. Because of this, Redbird says it was a project he thought was “lost to the deep distant past.”

“It never got much airplay or distribution at the time we were doing it . . . we gathered up a little bit of money, we produced it ourselves,” he tells. “In order to have your work heard, you had to depend on broadcast radio stations. In that day, 1975, radio stations didn’t play First Nations music, or First Nations performers. You couldn’t get on the air. For example, my good friend Buffy SainteMarie was banned from any broadcast in the United

IMAGE COURTESY OF ARTIST

States. The only time anyone would hear this music was when we were playing live in some venue, and there weren’t a lot of venues to play in either.

It wasn’t that they weren’t good songs or good music, there was just no way to have an opportunity to broadcast or perform the music to large audiences.”

Redbird will appear with Shingoose at the upcoming performance at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. On the performance, he remarks, “It’s an amazing gift to be recognized by a whole new generation of people who love music. It’s delightful and heartening.” However, for his generation of artists and friends who are aging, Redbird says that the stage can also be bittersweet. “It’s great, but there’s a certain sadness for the people that won’t be there, those that have already gone off to their reward, like Willie Dunn and Floyd Westerman. Really great artists that never had any following outside a very limited audience. The other side of it is that for those of us that are still around and still capable of getting

Landry explains. “So now we’ve stepped into the need time.”

On the upcoming performance, Landry says that it feels very welcoming. “I really want to be there and I’m excited to showcase the compilation. And to meet up with some of these musicians.

I haven’t seen Willie Thrasher in 30 years. These musicians who are on the compilation, I’ve been thinking about them for the last ten years, wondering what did they do, and where are they now.”

One of the artists that Landry will meetup with for this show is Willie Mitchell. Mitchell has opened for Buffy Sainte-Marie, and has been a judge for the Juno Awards. Currently, he lives in Mistissini, Quebec with his wife. He continues to write and perform music, saying that in particular he likes playing for kids. “I tell a legend when I perform for kids, legends and stories,” he says. “Stories about the drum, or giant mosquitoes. Different stories. But they say you’re only supposed to tell stories

record was recorded in 1980 and featured the music of Willie Thrasher, Roger House, as well as Mitchell’s own music with the Desert Band. When asked if he was surprised when Kevin contacted him about the project, Mitchell says he was very surprised. He laughs, “I thought he was some kind of hacker up to no good. But as we spoke I knew deep in my heart that this was a special guy. He’s got the biggest heart, Kevin. I’m very grateful to him.”

Mitchell recalls that it was emotional to hear the song again. “Light in the Attic buffed it up and it sounds even better than before. It brought a lump to my throat to hear that again, because all the albums were sold out. There was only 1500 albums, and most went to Japan,” Mitchell recalls.

Mitchell shares that he’s excited for the Folk Festival. “Excited and nervous, I guess like anybody. I won’t be nervous when I go up onstage, but I’m nervous up to that point,” he says. “It pleases me to please people with my music, that’s the most im-

LEFT: NATIVE NORTH AMERICA (VOL. 1): ABORIGINAL FOLK, ROCK, AND COUNTRY 1966–1985 RIGHT: WILLY MITCHELL IMAGE COURTESY OF ARTIST

up on a microphone, it’s quite exciting.”

Also on the bill is Eric Landry. Landry’s song “Out of the Blue” was released in 1985 and is currently the only commercially-released track by the artist, although he has been actively performing live onstage since then. He’s been working on his debut album ever since.

Landry says that not only was he surprised when Howes contacted him about being involved with Native North America, but he even had to ask Howes to send him a copy of the song because he’d forgotten how to play it. “I didn’t even have a recording of it,” he explains. “I asked him to send it to me so I could relearn it.”

Talking about his musical journey, Landry says he has been led and instructed by Spirit. He received a music vision of the buffalo in his youth and was instructed by Spirit not to play the music until the people need it, not when they want it. And in the meantime, he was instructed to go learn about the buffalo (meaning culture).

Landry explains that he was never able to identify the want time until society had passed through it in the 70s and 80s. He wasn’t told when the need time was going to be, but then Native North America came along. “When this call came in from Kevin, I thought ok, something is starting to happen here,“

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in the winter, so I guess I won’t tell any stories in Winnipeg.”

Mitchell’s album Ceremonies was recorded in his home reserve of Kitigan Zibi. He also released an eight-song cassette in 1993. His tracks on NNAV1, “Call of the Moose,” as well as “Kill’n your Mind” and “Birchbark Letter” (the latter two also crediting his band) were some of Mitchell’s earliest commercially released music.

Over the phone, Mitchell recounts the story of how his musical career began in his youth: while in Maniwaki, the neighboring town to his home, Mitchell was asked by another boy to hold two lightbulbs. Mitchell didn’t know it but the light bulbs had been stolen. A police officer started coming towards Mitchell, so with great fear, Mitchell took off running. The policeman shot him through the back of his head. He survived the shot, and started writing music while recovering in the hospital. After the court trail, Mitchell and his mother were given a settlement of three thousand dollars.

Much of the money went to repay the costs of their lawyer, as well as his mother’s travel costs. Mitchell only asked for a small portion of it to buy a guitar, which he still plays today.

He was contacted after Howes stumbled across a copy of his album Sweet Grass Music. The

portant thing. Seeing people’s faces, seeing that they like it.”

Over a crackling telephone line from his apartment in Toronto, Duke Redbird quotes Willie Nelson when he reminds me that “Three chords and the truth. That’s what a country song is.” The music and the stories of the NNA performers at this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival are powerful, and an important piece of musical history. As Redbird recalls, “we were a world of young artists with dreams and idealism and a world that just appeared for a very short time, and then disappeared into a swamp of electronics and new music and punk rock, and all the other things that came afterwards. It was a Camelot of music. It was a time, a moment in time.

Those of us that lived through it will never forget it.

I’m glad I was part of that era.”

This is surely a performance you do not want to miss.

Native North America: A Selection of Trailblazers will happen on Saturday, July 9 at 2 pm on the Bur Oak stage at the 2016 Winnipeg Folk Festival. For more information about Native North America, go online to lightintheattic.net.

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

11

JUNE 24—26, 2016

GIMLI, MANITOBA

REAL LOVE SUMMER FEST

BESNARD LAKES — TOPS ADVANCE BAS E — MAHOGANY FROG AVEC LE SOLEIL SORTANT DE SA BOUCHE

FAITH HEALER — ANIMAL TEETH — TROPIC HARBOUR BAS I C NATURE — SLOW DOWN MOLASSES — MICAH ERENBERG PARTNER — SLOW LEAVES — BLUE CRIME — BRADY ALLARD — HUSH PUP MULLIGRUB — BLACK CLOUD — LANIKAI — FOX WHO SLEPT THE DAY AWAY — UMAMI M A G I C P E R M — L E V S N O W E — F U T U R E S TAT E S — J O KO T E A — G H O S T T W I N H A N S M O L E — LY I N G L I G H T I N T H E Q U I E T — S E L C I

TOPS

Jane Penny, keyboardist and vocalist of TOPS, joins me over the phone from Montreal. She lets me know that guitarist David Carriere will be joining us for the interview. He begins to talk about what they’ve been up to since they got home, recording their newest album at Arbutus studios, but he trails off with a laugh. “Jane,” he says. “You’re doing it better.”

TOPS is one of those rare bands that combines the finesse of a polished aesthetic with the off kilter experimental fun of a DIY project.

This balance is perfectly encapsulated in the video for their track, “Anything,” which features Penny coolly crooning to the camera through a grainy, nighttime atmosphere. Spliced throughout is footage of a burning mannequin, abandoned on the ground or standing upright in a trash can.

“One of my first bands I ever played in,”

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CAMPING — ARTISTS VILLAGE

WWW.REALLOVESUMMERFEST.COM

FOOD BY THE HANDSOME DAUGHTER

#REALLOVE2016

BY RACHEL NARVEY PHOTO BY SARAH O’DRISCOLL

Penny says, “we had a window display at a record store called Phonopolis in Montreal, and I borrowed it from a girl then. When I tried to return it she told me not to because she found it terrifying. It stayed in the back of my apartment for years, so we thought, you know, let’s just burn this thing. It actually exploded! I didn’t realize that gasoline, when it pools, it explodes. I was standing in front of it, just lip-syncing, and then it went up! We had a fire extinguisher,” she laughs. “It wasn’t the best idea, but it looks good.”

For TOPS’ sophomore album, Picture You Staring, the band chose cover art created by LA artist Jessica Dean Harrison. Penny plans to feature another artist for their upcoming album as well.

“I have a pretty strong sense of what kind of aesthetics appeal to me,” she says. “I feel that stuff like that kind of transcends the boundaries

@REALLOVEWPG

between music and art. For me, taking an approach to the visual aspect of music keeps it more in the realm of art than promotion. It’s easier to be enthusiastic and get into it in a way that I feel like it wasn’t just about getting a sexy pic, you know?”

In November of last year, Penny made a “Capricorn Females” playlist and shared it to Facebook. While Penny admits that she’s a bit of a different Capricorn, having a Gemini Moon and Gemini rising, she connects to these women who project both a strength and a sensitivity.

“I’ve gotten really into astrology recently,” Penny says. “I’ve been doing my friends’ natal charts. I think it’s an interesting way of understanding people... when I started looking into fellow Capricorn women, I started realizing that there were a couple people that I really felt like I resonated with what they were doing personally. It felt like a good way of being inspired by them and maybe feeling like there’s some kind of cosmic kinship with Patti Smith or something.”

For Penny, that same like-mindedness could be said of her bandmates.

“We’re all independently musicians, but for us all to work together, it’s kind of like an acknowledgement that the sum is better than the parts.”

Catch TOPS at Real Love Summer Fest from June 24 - 26 in Gimli, Manitoba.

The Besnard Lakes

BY CHRIS BRYSON

Sometimes returning to one’s roots can reap bountiful benefits, and sometimes it doesn’t, but for the Besnard Lakes with their most recent album A Coliseum Complex Museum, returning to their roots did just that.

A Coliseum Complex Museum was the first of five studio albums to be fully made up at Besnard Lake, the lake the band is named after, and a place that is in many ways a home away from home for Jace Lasek and his wife Olga Goreas, the core duo behind the Besnard Lakes.

The Besnard Lakes have created a brand of earth-borne psychedelia that is distinct in sound and tone, and hosts boldly androgynous vocals and airy, spacey atmospherics that are grounded by the pervasive tromp of prog-rock.

Lasek grew up in Regina and Besnard Lake, a “spectacular yet secluded water feature in rural Saskatchewan,” has become a place where he and his wife go to for ideas, inspiration, and to just get away from it all.

“A lot of the time we would just go out there and think about the concept of how we want to write the record and kind of talked about the ideas but never actually wrote stuff,” Lasek explains. “But when we were figuring out when to actually make this record we realized that we only had this vacation time to actually start woodshedding some ideas. So we took a little recording setup and took it up to Besnard Lake, and luckily we got a few rainy days (laughs).”

Along with the Besnard Lakes, Lasek also runs Breakglass Studios, where he’s housed clients like Braids, Sunset Rubdown, the Unicorns, Wolf Parade, and many more. With making A Coliseum Complex Museum out at Besnard Lake, Lasek was able to go into the studio with demos instead of just starting to record. “I always just go into the studio and make a record in the studio,” says Lasek. “So this was kind of like making a record like everyone else makes one, where we put the demos together and put all of the ideas together and then we actually go into the studio. And we ended up having a whole bunch of ideas for songs so it was a lot less stressful going into the studio.”

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With reducing stress, Lasek also found himself able to maintain what he calls the “spirit” of the album, finding this through the rawness of more primitive recording, outside of the refinements of studio luxuries, and by utilizing and embracing the environment around him.

“In a way it kind of goes back to the Dark Horse era, our second record, where we recorded a lot of demo tracks really shittily into the computer out there (at Besnard Lake), and kept those in the finished album because the spirit of them was raw. When you get into the studio you have the tendency to make things sound really

good, but in a demo you just want to get the idea down, so you end up getting these really bizarre sounds. We decided to throw caution to the wind, and a lot of those sounds ended up being really cool,” says Lasek. “It kind of created a more sort of raw, interesting texture to the album.”

The music of the Besnard Lakes has always been grounded in a sort of spiritual nature that has come forth through both the music as well as in interviews with Goreas and Lasek, and this spiritual nature is very much an extension of the creative process for the band. Speaking to this, Lasek says that “we’ve always really wanted the music to be something that people can get immersed in and get lost in and in that sense it’s a lot like our trips to Besnard Lake every year, we go up there to turn everything else off and just focus on what’s up there, like the water, the nature, and who we are, and kind of get lost in this beautiful pristine wilderness. We forget about the world for three weeks

or however long we go out there. And I think it took us a while to understand that but I think in a way going up to Besnard every year is an extension of us creating music.”

After creating the songs for A Coliseum Complex Museum at Besnard Lake, Lasek and co. brought them back to Breakglass Studios to be refined for the album. Lasek never went to school for music production, but over the years he’s taken the tried and tested route of self-teaching in order to hone and expand his skills.

Lasek tends to be a bit more experimental with the production of his own albums, taking risks with sounds and textures to see what he can come up with.

But his original motivation towards producing music came out of necessity when he was a teenager living in Regina and the lack of capable producers was making itself known.

“I grew up in Regina. So there wasn’t really a lot of places to record music there when we were younger. And when we did go into the studio to record a lot of times we’d come out not as satisfied as we wanted to be,” explains Lasek.

“My basic goal was to try my best to make recordings that the musicians that were coming to me were going to be happy with.”

Lasek incorporated this recognition that a musician should be happy with the final product into his philosophy for production, and the results seem to be beneficially twofold.

“These bands bring their music and it’s their baby,” says Lasek. “They’ve been spending so much time figuring it out and laboring over it, and to have someone who’s recording your album for you not give a shit, it can be a letdown. It can make you not enjoy the process. It should be one of the most enjoyable things because you’re actually bringing to life something that you’ve been working on for such a long time. So I’m always trying to keep that in mind as well.”

The Besnard Lakes will be playing the Real Love Festival in Gimli on June 24.. Be sure to join The Besnard Lakes for what will surely be a mutually epic experience.

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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14 Stylus Magazine June/July 2016

J. Riley Hill: Mortfell Recording

BY ROB HILL

Finding time amongst preparations for a western tour with his band Mulligrub, J. Riley Hill and I found a moment for a beer on Sherbrook to discuss his recording business, Mortfell Recording and career as a local recording engineer.

Stylus: Lets start at the beginning; what was your introduction to recording music?

J. Riley Hill: I’ve been doing recording since I started doing music; so around when I was 15 or so. I started with a four-track recorder and am going on 12 years now I guess. After recording a couple things, people started asking me to record their bands, occasionally doing that for money. A couple years ago I decided to try and do it full time as I already had a lot of credits and portfolio to pitch to interested bands to say, ‘this is what my recordings sound like.’ It’s been awesome and seems to get busier and busier.

Stylus: Do you work out of a home studio setup or do you do mobile recording as well?

JR: I’m set up to mix at home and I’ll do vocal sessions there as well, but anything else is either mobile or freelancing out of other studios.

Stylus: Streaming is now the most popular means of listening to music. With this new reality and the decline of physical and digital album sales has Mortfell been affected in any way? If so how do you plan to adapt to these rapidly changing music consumption patterns?

JR: I don’t really think that independent bands should be trying to get their music on streaming services because it’s a rip off for independent artists.

Services like Bandcamp are way better as you can stream it and also it reminds you to buy it. I think that for most of the bands I work with that are making a real plan to get their music out there and make a career of it, they’re touring, and their fans are going to go out of their way to support them anyway.

Creating music is what it all comes down to; I don’t charge a lot and people like their music to sound as good as possible. I think the streaming thing is weird and it will be a while before we see it affect independent artists. In terms of independent music, people are still buying music and specifically touring acts. If you go on tour you still sell cd’s, tapes or LP’s. It seems like the internet has split everything into sub markets, so there are little niche markets everywhere, and I’m mostly doing local independent not major label stuff anyway.

Stylus: Going through your portfolio reads like a who’s who of well-received local independent artists. Do you find yourself seeking out artists that you would like to work with or do you find they approach you based on who you have recorded in the past?

JR: When I first started to do recording full time, I had just finished doing the Blisters album and although not many people had heard it, friends of the band and others who heard it really liked it and sought me out based on that recording. That was a great starting point as they are a great band and it

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PHOTO BY DANIEL PLIMPTION was a good album. I don’t really aggressively pursue people; I may mention I would like to work with someone if I’m really interested in their music. I have a pool of people that record with me regularly and they will often send their friends to me when they want to record, which keeps me busy.

Stylus: Would you ever record a band or artist if you didn’t find their music engaging or palatable?

JR: I feel like I’m able to work with anything. There has only been a couple times where someone has emailed me and I didn’t know what I would do. For the most part I’m down to work with anything and in terms of my own musical preferences I’m all over the place playing in Rastamills, Mulligrub, and my solo music, so unless I am busy enough to have to make those decisions I’m not really that selective.

I don’t get asked to record much heavy music, and it’s not because I don’t like it. I haven’t been asked much, but would like to record more of it.

Stylus: With something as personal as someone’s music is it difficult to juggle both audio engineer and producer roles?

JR: I’ve had it happen where people come to me after paying someone a ridiculous amount and are not getting what they want. I just try and be like, ‘what do you guys want?’ I’ll give suggestions, but at the end of the day it’s a service position and my job is getting what they hear in their head on record.

Stylus: As a producer, recording engineer, musician and artist are you drawn to one role more than the others or do they all fall under the same umbrella for you?

JR: I kind of bounce all over the place. I really like mixing; I’d say that’s my favorite part but I also really enjoy producing and recording. I was doing a lot of my own music and getting bored of doing everything myself, so doing other people’s projects has been more energizing. I like bouncing things off of people and the momentum of working with others but imagine at some point in the future I’ll get back to doing my own music a bit more. For now though, I need to recharge. I tried being a touring musician right out of high school but did it poorly and now that I’ve worked with artists that are really good at getting things out there; I see the things they’re doing both right or wrong and file it away. With artists I work with that I see making the same mistakes, I’ll kind of suggest, ‘oh, maybe you shouldn’t do that!’

I’ll occasionally help artists I work with on the marketing side of things. It’s the stuff nobody wants to do but it’s what gets people to your shows. If I really like something and see they may not have the budget I’ll help out just to make it happen. It’s just a way to help, knowing a specific way industry people like to see things, especially with getting grants.

Stylus: Are there any audio or mixing engineers that you drawn inspiration from, or use as benchmarks when listening to your own mixes?

JR: There are lots of engineers that I really like. I enjoy reading interviews of famous engineers to get tips from them but a lot of the time when I listen to music I’m listening to the artist more so than the

engineering. In terms of mixing references it’s not based on specific engineers but more as a general reference for genres that I may not be well acquainted with, just to ensure I’m in the ballpark. I love talking to other engineers but the sound of music is ultimately based on the artist and band and what they want to convey.

Stylus: Looking ahead, what are your plans for Mortfell as it continues to grow?

JR: I’m probably going to move away from calling it Mortfell as it’s sort of confusing and I’m essentially a freelance engineer. So I’ll probably just go by J.Riley Hill Recording. If I ever get a studio I’d like to call it Mortfell but in terms of marketing and where I’d like to take it, I’m just going to keep recording people. I would really like to record people outside of Winnipeg, but I also really don’t want to move.

Hopefully I can keep working with people who tour lots, so bands outside of Winnipeg will hear my work as well.

Stylus: Do you find Winnipeg has an effect on your path as an engineer, producer and musician? If you had grown up in another city do you imagine you would be doing the same type of things?

JR: I think Winnipeg is a great city for what I’m doing, as it’s a really artist friendly place with cheap rent. It’s easy to just hole up and make art and music. My parents have always been supportive of me making art and music and it’s always been what I’ve wanted to do. If I grew up in a different place it would have been similar but Winnipeg definitely has an effect on how I’ve done it.

Stylus: Anything you would like to plug or upcoming events you are excited about?

JR: I’m going on tour tomorrow and working on some really fun stuff right now. I’m really excited for Real Love Fest as Mulligrub and a bunch of bands I’ve worked with are playing it and they are making a big effort to bring in out of town acts this year. If there is anyone I’m going to plug it’s the Real Love guys as I’ve done so much recording with them and they have helped me get my name out there. One thing I’d like to say is that for a lot of people doing music that are committed to making a career out of it, it’s really hard to make money.

One thing I’ve noticed over the last couple of years with people that are actually starting to make some money is that it’s about all the little different income streams you can make use of. If you’re good at making posters or anything you can do in music related jobs, it’s going to make you more connections and grow your network. I feel like that’s a big mistake that I made, spinning my wheels and doing everything myself, which is kind of the worst thing you can do. It doesn’t matter how good of a song you write if you’re just playing it alone in your room. You have to have a story, get out there and get people on board with it. It’s the community thing; if you go out of your way to help someone they’ll do the same for you.

You can connect with J.Riley Hill online at mortfell.ca.

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ckuwho?

Listen to:

The Electric Chair

BY BROOSE TULLOCH

For your Saturday morning musical brunch, Nicole Firlotte is just as likely to serve up a Scoobie Doobie Doo as she is a Wa Da Da Da Da.

Every other Saturday (alternating with Influenced) she and The Electric Chair roll with the flow wherever the mood takes the day, from Ol’ Blue Eyes to Blue Monday. It’s all over the map and eclectic, but she keeps it connected.“It’s totally freeform,” she explains. “I don’t have a plan, I don’t know where it will go,” she confesses, “I have a loose idea, but I’ll be in the booth and playing something and think ‘this will sound good and this will sound good.’ It’s a trip to see where it goes.”

“The 80s are a touchstone for me. The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, Echo & The Bunnymen,” she reminisces. “My first show was in 1986.” Back then, CKUW was located in the basement of Lockhart Hall and resembled every college station you might see in a movie from that time.

“The basement days were so fun and I came in near the end of them. There were always folks hanging around on the couch-

16 Stylus Magazine June/July 2016

es. Sometimes we would leave and go to class or to get food or coffee but we mostly just hung out.”

“There were not many girls back in those days, Jill Wilson and Barb Stewart and I were in the minority as I remember.”

While Barb and Jill were making names for themselves as music journalists, Nicole was moving on up in radio, becoming CKUW Station Manager. The following year, she left CKUW to further pursue her studies.

The Electric Chair came to life in 2001 upon her return to Winnipeg from Churchill, where she was a naturalist. Not just a music nerd, she’s also a scientist, helping to save endangered species. “That’s my day job,” she says matter-of-factly. “I try to approach the show like I’m talking to someone, a friend that I don’t know,” she explains. “Of course, you talk about yourself, but how much do people want to know?”

These days the chair is more like a loveseat as Nicole’s young son, Eli, often co-hosts.

She still does most of the talking, though. “He’s not one for a lot of talking,” she says, “but it’s cool that

he’s interested, and it’s great to share something with him that’s been a part of my life since the 80s.”

The Electric Chair may have its roots in the 80s, but new branches are always growing and new releases really sway the tree, leading to real life adventures that in turn are brought back and shared on the radio.

Such was evident when the family took a trip to Denver to see The Drums. “I interviewed the band, we watched the soundcheck, and they played a special song for Eli at the show,” she recalls. “I love CKUW and how it gives me the chance to take Eli along with me.”

A friendly Manitoban to the core, Nicole’s involvement with CKUW continues to be not just about the music, but the people too. “I like meeting the new folks around the station and the old faces from back in the day.”

The Electric Chair can be heard every other Saturday, alternating with Influenced, between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm on 95.9 FM CKUW.

PRAIRIE PUNK PERSPECTIVE

By Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrel It seems like all punks grow up and try to convince the younger generation that nothing is good anymore and you should have been there “back in their day.” This is something that has annoyed me for years. You’re under the impression that everything is fine and dandy, the scene is strong, the music is loud, until some old fart comes along and says you’re doing it wrong. Well, how does one replicate the past, and is that even a good idea? Are they threatened by the continuation that has clearly adapted to modern times?

Is it just straight up competition? Or is it all just a misunderstanding? Let’s hash this out.

To get some insight from someone who doesn’t have “work” affiliations with their enjoyment of music, I spoke with Sharon Humphrey, long time punk and concert attendee, who gave me her two cents on the subject.

Humphrey has been going to punk shows since 1990 so she’s personally witnessed these transformations and has some reasonable opinions on the matter.

One of the most obvious differences is the acceptance of punk and all its aesthetics. It is no longer shocking to see a mohawk on the head of a passerby.

Humphrey says the reaction used to be more substantial with a good ol’ ‘what the fuck is that?’ In some cases it’s even trendy. “It’s gotten a lot more mainstream. It’s not like a clique anymore, which is kind of shitty. It used to be sort of cool and exclusive and off the beaten path but now you can go into whatever store you want and buy a punk shirt. It used to take effort,” says Humphrey. It is a lot more accessible to walk into a store and walk out with an entirely new style.

We have certainly blurred the lines between cliques over the years. “It just showed people’s personalities more.

People were distinctly punk or metal.

But there were the ones that cruised between groups, that was cool too.

It seems everyone is the same now.

There’s no room for being weird anymore. You can almost show up to school in bondage gear and it’s like, ‘yeah, okay.’” That, or everyone is weird

now. Who can tell?

So punk has changed, no shit. The sounds develop, or take on influences from other genres. We can’t even keep track of what’s coming out right now with all the subgenres and crossovers.

But I think we can all agree that this is totally normal. “It’s just not the same, it’s morphed like everything does, time goes on and things evolve or devolve,” says Humphrey.

At some point I had to directly ask Humphrey if and why she uses the line ‘back in my day.’ “In my day I think it was a lot more fun because I was 20 years old. I wasn’t a 43 year old mother with lots of bills to pay. I always fucking say back in my day. I always think things were better in my twenties. But if you talk to someone who is 60 they would say back in my day, in the 70s.

And you in 20 years you are going to say ‘back in my day.’ It’s all full circle my dear.“ Maybe so, and maybe this is obvious to all and this whole article is fluff. It’s all making sense now, but it’s too late to start over.

We’ve had enough with the criticism

on the integrity of current punk bands however. Tunes change, you sure wouldn’t listen to any current bands if they were reproducing the same shit we’ve been hearing for decades. “I think it’s all adaptations. That’s what happens, you pull influences from different things and it gets turned into something else. Its an ongoing circular thing within music,” says Humphrey.

Let’s just call it progress.

But in the end we all want the same thing. Bands playing with high energy, audiences participating with high energy, people having a good time, people singing along to the songs, and moshing. I think it’s a simple case of nobody wanting to get older. This conversation won’t go away, but at least we’re on the same page about something: we expect a good time. We expect good music, even if it’s shitty, and we expect them to be crowd pleasing. We expect them to have good showmanship.

Local Spotlight

ORLANDO GLOOM An Evening with Orlando Gloom At 17, when the rest of us were figuring out our angst across a spectrum of unsubtle emotional genres, or showing off our newly-minted blues riffs in suffocating adolescent throngs, sadboy Orlando Gloom was making digitally-processed cardboard-box beats and putting them on tumblr. Since then, Gloom’s Bowiesque rotation of musical faces (Dave is Ok, Glass Random, Camp David) have each contained distinct variations on his brand of internet otherness. An Evening With Orlando Gloom, Gloom’s

most recent EP, is no exception.

Aesthetically, Gloom is still internet through and through (“I’m afraid of being bored / So I’ll take anything to let me stay indoors”). But Gloom is tumblr with a twist: he cares. This duality is present throughout the EP; while he’s definitely the figure nonchalantly sipping white wine on his album cover, he’s also the guy dancing relentlessly on stage at every one of his shows. The irony-laden passion is also captured lyrically (“I love you to the max”). Sonically these songs are at home in the company of Neon Indian and M83, while showcasing a baritone register to rival Ian Curtis or Matt Berninger. The porno-shoegaze pads and video game synths he uses throughout the EP work seamlessly to advance the beat and accentuate the collection’s greatest asset: these songs are catchy AF. Even if Gloom’s aesthetics are ‘seriously’ bored-core, in the struggle between passion and apathy, the melodic strength of Gloom’s arrangements make it a no-contest.

(Self-released, orlandogloom.bandcamp.com) Bryn Rieger

www.stylusmagazine.ca

Reccommended if you like Now Sounds, Fridays from 3:30 - 5 pm on CKUW 95.9 FM

VARIOUS ARTISTS Real Love Winnipeg Presents: Beach Station Blues IV The warm days of long scenic walks, rollerblading, and beach bumming are back and everyone loves it. If you are having trouble finding a great summer playlist to stretch out and chill to, then you are in luck. Real Love Winnipeg has released a compilation album of ten songs to give you

a small taste of the creamy dreamy indie surf music that Manitoba has to offer. It was recorded in large community hall in Gimli last August. The big atmosphere gives the tracks a laid back echoey sound that puts you on a beach somewhere. Some of the artists featured on this album are Mulligrub, Benowa, Wellness, and Basic Nature.

Basic Nature’s song “Four Square” is a high point on this album. The tender vocals with sustained guitar is a perfect combination for watching sunsets or driving up to the beach. “Homebody” by Mulligrub is another good one. An upbeat track with cool blues and warm tones, It defines the album by mixing the blues with indie beach music. If you are going to beach country this June you can definitely catch these artists live along with many other local and Canadian acts, playing at Real Love Summer Fest in Gimli from June 24 - 26. (Real Love Winniepg, reallovewinnipeg.bandcamp. com) Alex Roberecki

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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Ulteriors

TEEN Love Yes How do you articulate an album’s effect when the band is immune to genre classification? By defining the bejesus out of it, of course. So here it goes: if Love Yes, the fifth release of Brooklyn-based electropop St. Vincent cover-band and barbershop quartet TEEN was a person, it would be your brilliant yet somewhat odd friend. You know, the one in school that could not only do everything, but do it all well, and also operated on a slightly altered frequency, one in which perspective of self or self-editing is to a degree, absent. Okay, Love Yes is an impressive album. Between the impeccable production, flawless all female quartet harmonies, inventive melodies, and both retro, savage and lush synth lines, there is a lot to like here. The four part harmonies are akin to being serenaded by an

army of St. Vincent clones (more on this later). With that said, I’m reticent to critique what I feel is an inspired and unique offering, but I’m going to anyway. By the time track three, “Gone for Good” is queued up you get the impression that TEEN’s greatest strength is also their weakness. Despite impeccable musicianship and vocal chops, the harmonizing is used to such frequent effect that it leads to a certain listener fatigue and disassociation. The same goes for much of the synth work and electronic flourishes, which sometimes come across as trying to meet a ‘cool synth line here’ quotient as opposed to actually serving the song. I get the impression TEEN harbor so much talent that they put everything in a track because they can, and to their credit they often get away with it. That being said, when they don’t, it’s obvious and can come across as a clumsy amalgamation of whatever is in vogue at the moment or even overt aping of St. Vincent or Talking Heads. TEEN’s most authentic and realized tracks on Love Yes are “Animal” and “Please.” The song “Animal” containing a vicious, ripping earworm of a lead synth line, and comes across as an authentic and deliberately catchy outburst. “Please,” with its perfectly placed strings and on point vocal delivery, is stunning. Written about the loss of band member Lizzie Lieberson’s father, it’s a welcome break in

tempo and an undeniably beautiful four minutes. TEEN are at times putting out interesting music with Love Yes, yet five albums in and they often sound like a band trying find their voice. On the occasions they do find it, it’s incredible; otherwise, Love Yes? Try Love Maybe. (Carpark Records, carparkrecords.com/artists/teen) Rob Hill

RADIO RADIO Light The Sky Light The Sky is a captivating and stimulating rap album that makes you smile. The opening song will have you pining for the dance floor, ready to ironically (or sincerely) pump your fist. Intricate and fun electric songs demand you to move. The use of different sound samples add pizzazz to the overall arch of each song. Radio Radio doesn’t hold back on the

electric snare to make you wait for the bass drop and demands that you dance a bit faster when it does. The choppy but comfortable rap speed and style is well articulated and makes you imagine the pair behind Radio Radio, Gabriel L.B. Malenfant and Jacques Alphonse Doucet, stoned on their couch busting out rhymes at three in the morning to create this album.

Each song paints the picture of a different room in a club. Radio Radio has this ability to create music that sparks the imagination and spurs visual imagery – a unique quality for a genre of music appropriate for the dance floor.

If you were ever weary about club rap but were still looking to dabble in some, look no further. Radio Radio not only provides diversity in sound and a captivating narrative to their songs, but also will make you want to learn how to shuffle, UK style. There is a respectable comedic aspect to their songs, which is foreshadowed by titles that include “Sweater Weather,” “Happy Hustler,” “Cause I’m A Hoe,” and “Insight into Bla Bla Bla.” This insinuation is clearly iterated in their last song, which is really a 31-second recording of two people critiquing humor in artistry and how being funny isn’t given merit, but you have to hear it to truly understand. (Self-released, radioradio.bandcamp.com) Talula Schlegel

Under the Needle

SUPERMOON Playland Losing no momentum from their 2015 EP, the Vancouver girlband Supermoon blasts off with the release of their second album Playland. The four piece band’s release coincides with their signing to Mint Records and an ambitious tour to begin later this sum-

18 Stylus Magazine June/July 2016

mer. Determined to add a sharp edge to their body of work, Playland shifts focus away from the bright chipper themes the band began with and instead explores mood pop. The sunny melodies and peas-and-carrots love songs from their previous EP comet lovejoy are still there in spades. The second track “Witching Hour” makes for a bubbly beach jam, despite its hilariously ominous lyrics. “Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves” plays with distortion and urgent guitar licks alongside a relentless beat that fills you with the urge to race on horseback. It’s a ton of fun and breaks free from some of the looping riffs that are rampant in their other works. Their power pop sounds really shines through with “If You Say So,” and closes with haunting chants and dissonant progressions in the final song “Fast-Fashion.” I hadn’t been exposed to Supermoon until re-

cently, and I’m already thrilled to see how they continue to grow. For me, Playland has coloured my past few weeks with equal parts cheery headbobbing and gloomy reflections. The buoyancy and fun of the group bleeds through even their moodier songs, but their exploration of mood-pop is far from a failure and above all else I want to urge Supermoon to keep taking risks. Their development over the course of just one year is flooring, and just a bit more experimentation could see this band rocket out of obscurity.

Playland is stellar and Supermoon deserves your support. (Mint Records, allmoonsaresuper.bandcamp.com) Samuel Nowicki Reccommended if you like The Tonic, Mondays from 7:30 - 9 pm on CKUW 95.9 FM

EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS PersonA PersonA celebrates the fourth studio album of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and bravely aims to take the image of the band we are so familiar with, kill it quietly, and then dissect it publicly to show us every little hardship they’ve faced in their ten-year career. Band leader Alex

Ebert makes no bones about it either; his own persona as Edward Sharpe is effaced from the album cover with a bold red streak. Superficially, every part of the album emphasizes that this is a deep departure from the band you know, and that’s okay!

PersonA is their first album to be written with input from the entire band, and the new perspective is clear.

Their experiments range from the bold, psychedelic folk heard in “Hot Coals” to Nina Simone-esque jazz and gospel in songs like “Uncomfortable.” Suffice it to say, if you’re searching for another “Home” or “Man on Fire” you might be disappointed, but I’m confident there is enough diversity here for everybody to find something they love. For me, it was “Lullaby.” This song is simply numbness, made of glowing synths and whisper-soft coo’s. It sublimely depicts Ebert’s anxieties surrounding fathering his newborn child. Every song is written in this vein, an ode to how the band has changed over the years. This album is a gorgeous expression, but not everybody values that over a genuinely good collection of music. It doesn’t lack in originality (and for a band that’s been around for

a decade now, I’d call that a victory) but it is a transitional album that may be a bit hard to swallow, especially for the fans. For what it is and what it represents in the life of Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes, I really enjoyed PersonA and I wish more people would at least give it a chance. (Community Music/Universal, edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros.com) Samuel Nowicki

WEEZER The White Album Weezer’s most recent album, The White Album, is a reminder of all that is good about the band; a shining reminder of what they were capable of

in their prime, and an assertion that they’re still kickin’ and able to make an album that comes off sounding natural, distinct, unforced, and something entirely its own. The White Album has an ease and comfort reminiscent of the Replacements’ Let It Be in a way that upon hearing it in completion it immediately feels classic. Like it had always been there it was just waiting to be revealed. The songs on The White Album aren’t far stretches from Weezer’s style, but they don’t sound recycled either. Like the bouncing keys, weaving guitar, syncopated drums, and rap-singing of lead vocalist Rivers Cuomo during the intro to “Thank God for Girls,” before a powerpop blast booms in with bold anthemic force. It’s a remarkably simple song that only a band like Weezer could make sound timeless. Or there’s “(Girl We Got A) Good Thing,” a pop punk anthem of thrumming guitars backed by a heavy swaggering groove.

Or the sawing grind of “Do You Wanna Get High?” with its beefy drums and chugging guitar that layers on chiming guitars that swirl and squeal to splendid screeching peaks. “L.A. Girlz” is another album standout. It starts out sounding like familiar Wee-

zer, with the midtempo thrust of cool and confident alt-rock, but then it ascends steadily into a swarming sonic salvo, then the song slows down and Cuomo softens to almost a whisper alongside a pattering drum beat, a comforting lull, then the song slowly builds back up, amplifying and dilating into gleaming guitar solo bliss. The song rides out on a final round of the chorus. All of this in three and a half minutes seems like a lot on paper, but Weezer know how to do a lot in a little time. The White Album is a bright and bold statement from a band that after over twenty years, still know how to keep their niche corner of alternative rock vibrant and alive. (Crush Music, weezer.com) Chris Bryson

first song - this is most definitely a rock album. There is a theatrical nature to the album and its songs. In the song “Not So Fast,” we slow it right down to a close-your-eyes-and-sway piano intro that makes you want to fall asleep to gospel rock and be woken up by the break of sun on the horizon.

Not an easy feat to achieve and thus, a notable one, coining this album, officially, with the theatrics worthy of a rock-opera. The use of unique electronic support instruments are gleefully noted, with a particular shout out to the choral influence in the fourth song. “DealBreaker” is slower than expected, but insistent in danceworthy rhythm and all the good feels – no song of this nature is complete without some good guitar shredding and a playful, jazzy, whistle-ending to finish off an emotional song. The album right back into it with a driving second last song, “Above Ground” and finally finishing the album with 6 minutes and 18 seconds of softness and nostalgia with “So Long the Buildup.” Be whisked away by the story that Royal Tusk sends you home with, but of course not before

a gut-wrenching guitar solo. There is contrast but also fluidity between the delivery of the songs throughout, making it a dynamic album in its entirety. Each song is unique within its own right; even while mixing in tasteful intricacy to each one, they manage to keep the album groovy and moving.

Royal Tusk knows their sound and how to manipulate it. (Self-released, royaltusk.com) Talula Schlegel

Iconoclast dabbles of electric guitar notes on the high end of the sound spectrum.

A foundation created by spastically strummed guitar chords and the silky, gravelly and poetic nature of Peacock Affects’ voice makes the otherwise awkward nature of all these sounds fit together as if they were made for each other. (Self-released, soundcloud. com/peacockaffect) Talula Schlegel PEACOCK AFFECT Spaceship Sent to Stylus in a plastic slip with the most endearing cover art enveloping a home-burned CD, this newly released EP is as unique as the packaging it came in. George Holman of Peacock Affect leaves you yearning for the entirety of the album to come. Riddled with relatable content, the distress in the lyrics is the antithesis of the comfort that this one beautiful song gives you upon hearing it. It’s not the kind of song that asks the question “what’s wrong?” but instead provides instant relief in the statement “I know.” A bold, burst-your-speakers bass sound compliments the tenor provided by

ROYAL TUSK DealBreaker Rooted in passionate storytelling, this is the kind of music you want to groove to, and don’t be fooled by the

www.stylusmagazine.ca

Reccommended if you like Sunnyroad, Fridays from 10 - 11 am on CKUW 95.9 FM

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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Root Cellar

THE WILD FEATHERS Lonely Is A Lifetime The Wild Feathers provide an opening to their album that is gratifying, coming at you with force, and it doesn’t quit. No matter how upbeat the song is, The Wild Feathers take full advantage of every instrument in their band. The storytelling lyrics bring you step by step through the experiences the songs are about. This story content is very fitting to the album title Lonely is a Lifetime, something we all feel in our moments of self-indulgent moroseness. The jovial sound waves paired with stories about amiable laments in life and good-natured angst in love is a sturdy thread that weaves its way throughout their album. The Wild Feathers take time to quiet down the music and show us the respect they have for some beautiful, feel-good vocal harmonies, which is an undercurrent throughout the album. The lyrics keep their storytelling qualities but gain a slight country music gait - props to post-rock background sounds as we hit that note of country paired with desert beach rock vibes created by the guitar. This sound sets them apart from your typical indie rock album. The introduction to each new song has an intriguing and unique draw, building as the songs progress and always leaving room for a good guitar solo breakdown. The Wild Feathers lean into their eclectic groove and by mid-album we hear a song opening with some bongos. The album takes a hopeful shift in the last three tracks, clearly distinguishable by the happy song titles. Their last song, “Hallelujah,” is a truly beautiful, calm sendoff and worth the wait of the album. Suitable as any dramatic indie rocker’s go-to, the album is an overall well-paced easy listen. (Warner Bros, thewildfeathers.com) Talula Schlegel

20 Stylus Magazine June/July 2016

BASIC NATURE AT THE HANDSOME DAUGHTER

PHOTO BY ERIC ROBERTS

95.9 FM CKUW CAMPUS/COMMUNITY RADIO TOP 30 ALBUMS ( March 22, 2015 – May 22, 2016) !=LOCAL CONTENT * =CANADIAN CONTENT re=RE-ENTRY TO CHART #

ARTIST

RECORDING

LABEL

1 ! The Zorgs Chew On It Transistor 66 2 ! Mulligrub Soft Grudge Self-Released 3 ! Shotgun Jimmie Field Of Trampolines You’ve Changed 4 ! The Unbelievable Bargains Exuberance Abounds Transistor 66 5 Parquet Courts Human Performance Rough Trade 6 Savages Adore Life Matador 7 ! The Small Glories Wondrous Traveler Self-Released 8 ! Trampoline Sometimes A Song Is Just A Cigar Self-Released 9 * Operators Blue Wave Last Gang 10 * Sultans Of String With Anwar Khurshid Subcontinental Drift Self-Released 11 * Basia Bulat Good Advice Secret City 12 ! James Culleton Vanished Days Self-Released 13 ! Sidestepper Supernatural Love Real World 14 * Tim Hecker Love Streams Paper Bag 15 M83 Junk Mute 16 * Robi Botos Movin’ Forward A440 17 * Atlantis Jazz Ensemble Oceanic Suite Marlow 18 * Mike Herriott Isn’t Life Grand Self-Released 19 * The Burning Hell Public Library Headless Owl 20 Tortoise The Catastrophist Thrill Jockey 21 ! Steam Pony Steam Pony Self-Released 22 * Black Mountain IV Dine Alone / Jagjaguwar 23 * The Strumbellas Hope Six Shooter 24 Charles Bradley Changes Daptone 25 ! Paris To Kyiv Fragmenti Remixes Balanced 26 ! Viva Non Pure Sundowning Sound 27 * Matthew Barber & Jill Barber The Family Album Outside 28 ! Lev Snowe Drifting Off Self-Released 29 ! Quinton Blair Cash Crop Self-Released 30 ! The Psychics Live At The Graffiti Gallery Self-Released

winnipeg folk festival UPCOMING CONCERTS aug sturgill simpson 11 Burton Cummings Theatre sept 15 sept 27 oct 4 oct 6 oct 20 oct 22 nov 1 nov 19

Royal Canoe Album Release Burton Cummings Theatre

I Long For hayden Everything 20th Anniversary Tour

Park Theatre

basia bulat

West End Cultural Centre

andy shauf Park Theatre

Birds of Chicago West End Cultural Centre

Boy & Bear Garrick Centre

donovan woods The Good Will

james vincent mcmorrow Park Theatre

full concert listing at winnipegfolkfestival.ca www.stylusmagazine.ca

June/July 2016 Stylus Magazine

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