‘TIL DEATH PERFORMING AT SIDESTAGE FOR WE ROCK LILITH FAIR NIGHT ON NOV 8
TERRA LIGHTFOOT PERFORMING AT THE WECC ON OCT 8
FONTINE PERFORMING AT SIDESTAGE FOR WE ROCK LILITH FAIR NIGHT ON NOV 8
PHOTO BY AMILIA FEHR
PHOTO BY AMILIA FEHR
PHOTO BY AMILIA FEHR
Production Team
Editor .
Assistant Editor
Keeley Braunstein-Black editor@stylusmagazine ca
. Maggie A . Clark assistanteditor@stylusmagazine ca
Art Director Kelly Campbell design@stylusmagazine ca
Cover Art
. Seraphine
Advertising Contact Rob Schmidt manager@ckuw ca
Print by JRS Print Services . 204-232-3558
Contributors
Mykhailo Vil’yamson
Bradi Breckman
Jamie Glenwright
Daniel Kussy
Paige Drobot
Kim Wiesner
Amilia Fehr
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
On the Cover
SERAPHINE is an artist and radio host currently practicing in Winnipeg, Man. As part of the their artistic practice, they work with images both found and painted to create textured and ornate digital collages.
Keep your eyes peeled for their art on instagram @aggravated_pedestrian and listen to SONIC BLANKET every Tuesday at 6-7 pm on CKUW
Blah Blah Blah
*** D .Rangers 25th anniversary Dec 28 at Times Change(d) *** Kippsmas Dec 26 at Times Change(d) *** Beth
• Animal Teeth • Booter Dec . 27 at Public Domain *** Dec 27 Leaf Rapids, Novillero, Bloc Parents at Times Change(d) *** Jamboree Dec . 28 at Public Domain *** The Funky Miracles Dec . 31 at Sidestage *** JD Edwards Band Dec . 31 at Times Change(d) *** NASHVILLE MB / The Writer’s Round Jan . 2 at Kilter *** Blue Monkey Overdrive Jan . 3 at Park Alleys *** Ego Spank Jan . 3 at Times Change(d) *** Dust Rhinos Jan . 3 at Sidestage *** Empaths in Retrograde Jan . 4 at Park Alleys *** Training Wheels Jan . 5 at Sidestage *** Dirty Catfish Brass Band Jan . 10 at Times Change(d) *** Leon’s Getting Larger Jan . 10 at Into the Music *** Jan . 10 Retro Rhythm Review at the Park Theatre *** Andrew Neville and the Poor
Choices Jan . 11 at Times Change(d)
*** Also-Ran Jan . 11 at Sidestage
*** Soap Scum Jan . 14 at Sidestage
*** Sam Singer Songwriter Hour + open mic Jan . 16 at Times Change(d) *** Mariana Padeanu Jan . 17 at Into the Music *** Proper . Jan . 17 at Sidestage *** 24th anniversary bash - Honeysliderd/ Sweet Alibi Jan . 17 at Times Change(d) *** 24th anniversary bash - Lost country / Little Miss Higgins Jan . 18 at Times Change(d) *** Distodius Feb . 22 at Sidestage *** Dayloft Jan . 24 at Into the Music *** Shred Kelly Jan . 22 at Times Change(d) *** Live From The Moon, Almost Insight Jan . 23 at Times Change(d) *** JD Edwards Band Jan . 24 at Times Change(d) *** LA Interruption: The Music of Warren Zevon/Linda Ronstadt/ Jackson Browne Jan . 25 at Times Change(d) *** Bobby Dove Jan . 30 at Times Change(d) *** Scott Nolan
Feb . 6 at Times Change(d) *** CKUW
Fundrive, details TBA Feb . 7 at Into the Music *** Jade Turner Feb . 7 at WECC *** Mama’s Broke Feb . 9 at WECC *** Bullrider/Honeysliders Feb . 14 at Times Change(d) *** The Bluejohns Feb . 21 at Into the Music *** Winter Blues Fest Feb . 22 at Times Change(d) *** Chosen Family Band Mar . 1 at Times Change(d) *** Bloodshot Bill Mar . 8 at Times Change(d) *** Death ByStereo Mar . 13 at Sidestage *** Dust Rhinos Mar . 15 at WECC *** One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, with Little Miss Higgins Mar . 16 at WECC *** Arrogant Worms Mar . 22 at WECC *** Op-Ed . March 28 at WECC ***
*** Winterruption Jan 22 - 26 at WECC, the Handsome Daughter, Park Theatre, and Sidestage *** Festival du Voyageur Feb . 14-23 ***
Old Favourites at a New Venue: Attica Riots Show Review
On Saturday, October 19th, Attica Riots christened Sidestage, Winnipeg’s newest music hub.
Sidestage, located in South Osborne next door to the Park Theatre, is owned and operated by Jenna Priestner and Cory Thomas. The space is intended for “concerts, dance parties, markets, art shows,” and more. Sidestage is equipped with a stocked bar, a dance floor, gender-neutral washrooms, wheelchair accessibility, and an excellent stage. The location also welcomes guests of all ages. A fully-equipped sound system and excellent acoustics make this the perfect place for performances by upand-coming artists.
Attendance was high that Saturday,
likely caused by interest in the new venue and Attica Riots’ cult-like following. People filtered in as local group Nagi opened the show and got the rock’n’roll vibes going. Their short set featured instrumental psychedelic rock songs that pumped energy through the building. The group left a funky and fun impression that set the crowd up for the rest of the night.
Nagi’s performance was followed by indie-rock band VVonder. VVonder’s music stepped outside the boundaries of genre, mixing classic rock, indie, alternative, country and even aspects of surf-rock. Their songs felt like homages to bands like Weezer, The Beatles, and The Beach Boys—a chaotic mix, to say the least. Despite this mesh of genres, the vocals and instrumentals were
cohesive, making for a unique and solid performance. Several times, the group sang in three-part harmony and created chords that scratched an itch in the listeners’ brains. A stand-out song from this set was “Invisible Man,” which featured deep lyrics propped against a cool guitar riff.
By the time VVonder ended their eclectic set, the venue was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, and the crowd cheered as the headliners took the stage. Attica Riots’ alt-rock sounds reverberated through the room, the acoustics of the small venue benefitting their already excellent music. Lead singer Bobby Desjarlais and his bandmates drew the crowd in with their excellent stage presence.
BRADI BRECKMAN
The set began with a few unreleased songs, hopefully giving a preview of new albums ahead. This transitioned to familiar favourites like “Who’s That?” and “Mountain” (popular tracks off the Riots’ most recent EP Life’s a Sugar Pill) that had the whole room dancing. The band then played “No Hands,” one of their faster and heavier songs, and fully cemented the set as a rock show. About midway through, Riots snuck in a cover of White Town’s “Your Woman,” putting
a fun rock spin on the 1997 classic, which the primarily millennial crowd enthusiastically sang along to. Singalongs weren’t in short supply, as the band’s cult following knew every lyric to “Misery,” “Love Sunshine & Hysteria” and other favourites from the band’s first album. Alongside excellent musicality, stage presence, and skill, the Riots also showed a high level of professionalism amid chaos. When one of the guitarists cut his finger, the band took only a few minutes to
send+receive
– October 19, 2024
(Rafael Toral, truth in the well, Katherine Liberovskaya + Phill Niblock + Francisco Janes)
MAGGIE
A . CLARK
Tens of people gathered at the Sudanese Canadian Community Centre on a crisp October evening to watch a video of a car tire, shot from above as it rotated down various streets, playing three or four times on a loop. They were also (arguably even primarily!) there to see a concert, but it sounds funnier if I pretend that the pre-show entertainment was the main attraction. It just goes to show the importance of framing.
The 26th edition of send+receive — an “itinerant, fly-by-night” sound art festival, as artistic director Cam Scott put it — launched on October 17, 2024. Unfortunately, I was too busy crying in bed while staring at the ceiling to catch Mark Templeton, Niecy Blues, and Dawuna at the West End Cultural Centre, but I would allow no such impediment to stop me from seeing Daniel Majer, Cloud Circuit, and Phew the next night.
night amounts to “holy shit, that was so good! Phew was incredible!”
The evening’s programming commenced with a screening of “Wind Waves / Rumble Mumble,” a 22-minute video by Katherine Liberovskaya, Phill Niblock, and Francisco Janes. This was the last piece that Liberovskaya and Niblock — longtime collaborators and the artists responsible for the aforementioned car tire video — completed before Niblock’s death in January 2024. This fact lent the video an additional gravitas and perhaps coloured my interpretation of it.
convene before returning. The injured member then played on through bloody bandages. It was the epitome of ‘the show must go on” and go on it did. Attica Riots played several more songs before thanking the thoroughly impressed crowd and ending the night. This was an excellent evening for Attica Riots, the opening bands, and the Sidestage venue. It’s fair to say we can expect big things from these artists and from this stage in the future.
Following a brief intermission, truth in the well took to the stage. In this iteration, Leigh Lugosi was joined by Tim Alexander on guitar and Emily Sinclair (of Virgo Rising fame) on vox. The three musicians sat pensively, positioned amidst various amplifiers, furniture, and a lamp. It was almost as if the audience was gazing into someone’s living room.
truth in the well played “subliminal verse party mix 2024,” a composition (or series of compositions) described as “a live mixtape/reimagining of popular music found in youth culture in winnipeg’s [sic] north end circa late 1990s through early 2000s.” It began in the same manner as “Wind Waves” ended, with a low drone that slowly morphed into something more melodic. Each song — or each movement of the same continuous song (it was hard to differentiate) — ended with a cassette tape click.
I contemplated writing about that show instead, but I quickly concluded that I’d rather pay it my full attention. I’ve found that I can either yield myself to a sensual experience or remain alert and withdrawn enough to write about it later, but never at the same time. Both can be fun when the mood strikes, but at the end of the day, these are fundamentally different enjoyments. Hence why my full review of the second
The piece consisted of a still shot of a pond in the Lithuanian countryside, bulrushes twisting in the breeze, water rippling gently, flashes of light reflecting rhythmically as the Sun and clouds danced through the sky, the occasional fish swimming to the surface. Underneath this idyllic scene was a drone composition by Niblock and Janes that I took to be a representation of the wind. As the rumbling got louder and bassier, I could have sworn that I saw the waves swell and the reeds sway faster — but this could just as easily have been a trick of the eye, a subtle discrepancy between image and sound, which raises a troubling thought. If we cannot fully trust our senses, if what they have to offer is an overwhelming barrage of conflicting data, then how can we tell what’s real?
Words were sung periodically, but I couldn’t make out the operative ones; I recall only “smile.” Throughout the set, the instruments were accompanied by field recordings of uncertain provenance. Radio static, children splashing around in a public pool, a mystery fluid sloshing in its container, who’s to say what? I can’t attest to this type of stuff being popular in the North End in the ’90s — as I lived in St. Boniface at the time and was three years old when the decade ended — but if so, that’s tight! I understand the nostalgia now.
To conclude the show, Rafael Toral performed a quadraphonic rendition of “Spectral Evolution,” a breathtaking 47-minute ambient jazz number. The
bespectacled Portuguese composer, clothed in a powerful red dress shirt, strummed patiently at his guitar as four speakers affixed to each corner of the balcony emitted an insistent electronic squawk. The blaring of four distinct audio tracks from different points in the room produced a disorienting effect, compounded by the harsh white spotlight alternately illuminating Toral and casting him into darkness as it blinked on and off.
Toward the end, he placed the guitar on its stand and rose to play an analogue theremin for a minute or two — the source of the squawking revealed! This whole time, I had mistaken it for a trumpet or a synthesizer. Oh, the majesty of live performance!
As delightful as the experience was, it feels odd to preoccupy myself with music criticism at a time like this.
Before the evening’s festivities began, Scott called upon the audience to reflect
Interview with Brendan Grey (Super Duty Tough Work)
WORDS & PHOTO BY KIM WIESNER
Stylus (S): Your tour with Cadence Weapon kicks off here in Winnipeg at the new Sidestage venue . How are you feeling about it?
Brendan Grey (BG): I’m feeling great. I’m excited; I think we’re all very excited. It’s going to be great to get back to all these cities which we haven’t been to in quite some time. It’s going to be interesting to be supporting Cadence Weapon. So, yeah, we’re feeling good. The blades are sharp. We’ve had a good year up until now. I think we’re just really excited to play a show in Winnipeg and then play a show in these cities to which we’ve been, but haven’t been in a second, right? Hopefully reconnect with people that we know and/or know us and then connect with some folks who maybe haven’t had the chance to see us play yet.
S: Yeah, absolutely . That’s super exciting . What can we expect from the live show?
BG: I hope you can expect the greatest show you’ve ever seen. We continue to hone our craft and it’s a very highly curated, arranged set and hopefully it will be smooth and everything will flow in the way that we want and it’ll be a
on Manitoba’s status as an “unfinished project of national liberation” and condemned the Canadian state for “hemorrhaging money” into weapons manufacture, facilitating Israel’s genocidal slaughter of Palestinians.
“It’s hard to find anything to say about it,” he said, “but I would feel like an ass if I didn’t mention it.” As, for that matter, would I.
journey for our audiences, of up and down and in the middle and all sorts of things, just generally fun. Fun, dope beats, and fly raps.
S: Do you have any song in particular that you like to play or that’s most fun for you?
BG: I like to play “Exhibit Grey,” which is a track from our first record, Studies in Grey. I think there’s a really good arrangement that we have of that track. It wasn’t a single, it’s an album cut, but it hits really well live. I always feel that when we get to that one, that’s really when we’re locked in as a band, as performers, as interactors with the audience as well. And I just love the feel, I love the feel of the music, the piano, the drums, and then the flow of the lyrics, it just feels good for me. Having performed it over and over, I feel that it also hits with the audience.
S: I imagine it feels pretty good to look out and see the audience really resonating with the song you’re playing .
BG: That’s why we’re there, you know?
S: So, speaking of Studies in Grey, you were a live show-only act for years before releasing that piece of music . Why was that the right time to record and put something out?
BG: It was just a natural progression. When I started the group, the goal wasn’t to be a band that is trying to “make it” (“make it” being to export your music, tour, and be in the spotlight). It was just a performance act to play at parties and really to fill a gap in the music scene that I thought needed to be filled. So, after doing that for however long, the idea of trying to push it a bit further started to be something that I was considering more, and we weren’t able to do that without recording and releasing music. Even to try and get shows further abroad, if you have nothing to show anyone, they’re like “oh, you’re a band? We’re going to listen to your music” — well, you can’t. That’s not enticing anyone to want to book you, right? So that was just a natural
progression that happened at that time and, five years later, here we are.
S: Studies in Grey ended up earning a spot on the Polaris Music Prize longlist, and you were Manitoba’s first hip-hop act to be nominated . What was that like?
BG: It was great. I’ve said this in the past and everyone says it. You don’t get into music to win awards, or at least I don’t. It’s not for the awards or the accolades, but it does feel nice to be recognized by your peers or industry. And beyond that, those things are, for better or for worse, markers that other people, other artists, other industry [professionals], other listeners, audiences, they understand and react to that, so that’s something that they can be excited about for you as well. So, when we were nominated for the long list, yes, as the first hip hop act from Manitoba, we did receive a lot of support and appreciation from our friends and family and fans and
even further abroad. It felt very nice to be recognized and supported and hopefully we won’t be the last. We are a group that started in Winnipeg, is largely based in Winnipeg, and is associated with Winnipeg. Hopefully, that indicates to everyone outside of Winnipeg that there’s a reason to be looking here and listening to what’s going on; and hopefully, other acts — as a result of our momentary presence in a fraction of the spotlight — can get some looks themselves, and maybe next year they’ll be in that space.
S: You are featured on the new Cadence Weapon track, “Nice Try,” set for release a couple days after the Winnipeg show on November 6th . What do you feel like you brought to the song?
BG: I brought my perspective, my style, my touch. I don’t know. Beyond that, it’s a collaborative track. We worked together in the studio with Junia-T, the
Stylus (S): The deluxe version of your album Rollercoaster came out last month, and it’s about the internet, the ups and downs of it . What’s your relationship with the internet / social media right now?
Cadence Weapon (CW): Well, I have a complicated relationship with the internet right now. I feel like as an artist, you feel an obligation to use the technology because it’s the best way to reach people. But then every time you try to reach your audience, you’re getting throttled, you’re getting your reach blocked, and that frustration really inspired me to make this record. I consider it to be a bit of a love letter to the early internet. When I first started out, I first got my record deal from the internet, from just sending my tracks to random people and then posting on a blog and then record labels hitting me up. I feel like that kind of direct audience connection is much more difficult to have today. It’s like when you go on Instagram, you gotta jump through all these hoops. It’s that kind of thing. So, I feel like the album is really about the social media age we’re in right now and how we navigate it as artists and individuals.
S: Yeah, social media is everything right now . Your childhood nickname was also Rollercoaster . Is there any meaning behind that?
producer. We were there, we linked up in the studio. He made the beat. He had his lyrics there already, so he just went in and recorded. I was able to hear his verse before writing mine. Although sometimes I do have stuff ready, I prefer to hear the music first and hear other people’s lyrics. If I’m doing a collaborative track with another rapper or singer, I like to hear what they have because it allows me to get an idea of what we’re talking about. I can go from there to shape my writing around theirs — not to match necessarily, but just to be cohesive, to make sense. The creative process allowed me to have a good idea of what the subject matter was and then I was able to write my verse, playing off a little bit of the vibe that he set. Although, he did say even before he recorded his verses, “this is kind of the idea I have and I want it to be like this,” and it made more sense to me once I was able to hear his words and try to make something that partnered well.
WORDS & PHOTO
BY KIM WIESNER
IntervIew
CW: Yeah, my name’s Rollie, short for Roland, it’s just a play on my name. My parents always used to call me rollercoaster or coaster. But the reason why I called the album Rollercoaster is that’s what people used to call me before they called me Cadence Weapon. That’s what they used to call me before I had a username, before I had an
alternate name, it’s going back to my roots in a way.
S: So now you’re touring Canada, specifically the prairies and West coast, with Super Duty Tough Work . What can the fans expect from your live show?
CW: Every time I go out to play, I want people to have the greatest experience of their life. I’m serious. For a live music show, I have very high standards with everything I do. And with the show, I really want people to [have their] expectations blown away. So that’s what I’m hoping people will come away from at all the shows on this tour. I’m really excited to be touring with Super Duty Tough Work. I feel like we’re very ideologically aligned. We’re both politically-minded artists. I grew up in Edmonton. I have so many connections to the prairies. I feel like this is really my home territory. So I’m really excited to just come through and chop it up with the homies and just spread the gospel.
S: Absolutely . It’s going to be great . So you actually have a single with them coming out called “Nice Try” in a few days . What can you tell me
about that song?
CW: Yeah, so that song is a collaboration with a producer in Toronto, Junia-T. We all got together in his studio in Toronto. And yeah, it came together quite organically. It’s a political song. I feel like my approach to it was really about the concept of “artwashing.” I feel like there’s this phenomenon where people will try to use me or other artists of color to help them get grants or to make their institution look more palatable in some way. So, whether it’s things like the Giller Prize — any of these companies or corporations that are funding the genocide of the Palestinian people — I won’t be taking any of their money and I won’t be helping them artwash their crimes against humanity.
S: Your music definitely has a lot of very strong messaging . How do you approach storytelling in your music?
CW: I always want to have an aspect of truth. I want to have something that feels like it comes from a real place. I feel like that’s the stuff that resonates the most with people. And so that’s when I feel like I’ve tapped
into something cool, is when I say something that feels undeniably real, or that feels undeniably authentic.
S: Back to “Nice Try,” how did the collab with Super Duty Tough Work come to be? And why were they the right fit?
CW: We were already talking about doing the tour and I just thought it would be really cool for us to have a song together that we could play at the shows.
S: Cool . Was there anything you wanted to add about the tour or the Rollercoaster deluxe?
CW: Yeah, I think the one thing I want to say is — I make this music, it has socio-political topics, and it’s seemingly quite serious, but we have a lot of fun too. I spend my whole day laughing. I’m constantly walking around laughing to myself. As I come up with new lyrics, I’m just laughing and laughing and laughing. So I want people to look forward to having a fun show. Definitely tonight in Winnipeg, and on the rest of the tour. Come and see us. It’ll be fun.
Cadence Weapon and Super Duty Tough Work Show Review
The new Winnipeg venue Sidestage quickly became cozy as fans flocked to the packed floor. Local gem Super Duty Tough Work got the night started, anticipation building as the murmuring crowd noticed the clocks read 9:00 p.m. already.
Good things come to those who wait, as proven over the next hour as Super Duty Tough Work seamlessly transitioned between jazz-infected hiphop songs after inviting the distant crowd closer to the stage. Percussive drums, atmospheric keys, and soulful vocals provided
WORDS & PHOTO BY KIM WIESNER
the room with a sense of calmness and an opportunity to unwind, then suddenly, the whole room chanted along with frontman Brendan Grey, “12-3, fuck the police,” exemplifying the band’s powerful delivery of political content. When Grey told me earlier that he wanted their set to be a journey of up, down, and in the middle, he wasn’t messing around. Super Duty
Tough Work’s set fit nicely before rapper Cadence Weapon, a.k.a. Rollie Pemberton, stepped into the spotlight with music sharing similar topics.
Sneaking onto the stage wearing a red sweater with his hood up in front of a distracted audience, Cadence Weapon launched into a declaration of Black pride with opening track “Africville’s Revenge,” silencing the chattering crowd with explosive rhymes and
PAIGE DROBOT
repetition of the lyrics “back in black / black is back.” Touching on Black identity, systemic injustices, and calling for recognition of Black people’s humanity and contributions is a suitable introductory song to those who may be unfamiliar with his music. Unexpected for some, a “wow” slipped from an audience member after an electric performance of the track “Press Eject.” Pemberton describes his music as “futuristic rap” — which is exactly what it sounds like: voice decoders and reverb and singing about computers, technology, and the internet.
“Tonight, y’all are my crew,” he said, and he meant it. His humour was turned all the way up, cracking jokes and sharing stories between songs all night, as if we were indeed a bunch of homies, bonding as we listened to him
perform “My Crew (Woooo).”
It was truly a “Rollercoaster” of a night, soaring through explosive sounds and powerful a cappella. Pemberton even joined the audience mid-performance. Wedged near the end of his set was the never-before-heard (or -performed) collaboration with Super Duty Tough Work and Junia-T, titled “Nice Try.” Pemberton invited Grey back to the stage to debut the song together. Their styles and talent effortlessly complemented each other, resulting in what felt like a perfect pairing for this song. This, leading into Cadence Weapon’s last couple songs, made for a thrilling close.
“You guys don’t even know how much I fuck with this city,” exclaimed Pemberton to a group of people who fuck with him just as much.
The best concert I saw in Winnipeg this year was right near the end: Cantor Dust at the Handsome Daughter on November 1st. I have been a Cantor Dust fan since I first saw Mark Klassen perform solo over a decade ago. (I think it was at the Filipino Senior Citizens Hall in North Point Douglas for a fundraiser event.)
I was thrilled when Natanielle Felicitas was added to the group. I was also thrilled when Dan Moroz was added to the group, but this final development of adding Scott Ellenberger on drums elevated it more than I even thought was possible.
Having the canvas of the drums freed up Mark to somehow take the already gut wrenching emotional performance even further.
- Medicine Singers @ Winnipeg Folk Festival (July 13, 2024)
We are truly lucky in this city to have these four world-class artists collaborate on something so important.
Best of 2024
Stylus contributors on their favourite songs, albums, and shows of 2024
- haha L aughing @ Real Love Summer Fest (July 26, 2024)
- Mount Eerie @ West End Cultural Centre (June 26, 2024)
MYKHAILO VIL’YAMSON
Here is one song from each of the local bands whose albums I reviewed in Stylus this year:
- “Samsa” by Prairie
- “Waltz for Fallen Lovers” by Guilty Sleep
- “Come Down Awkward” by Fold Paper
- “Inside Out” by Long Fall
- “Rubber Ducks” by Jamboree As for my actual favourite album of the year — by the amount I’ve listened to it — it’s unfortunately not Manitoban (or Canadian), but, for interest’s sake, it was Lust for Gold by Starflyer 59.
- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band @ Canada Life Centre November 13, 2024)
DANIEL KUSSY Albums
CKU Who? spirit.303
hosted by Victoria K
Mondays
Stylus (S): How would you describe your show to someone who hasn’t heard it before?
Victoria K (VK): I would describe most of the episodes as generally very danceable and psychedelic and every week is a little bit different, but it’s structured like a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. It goes all over the place, but generally, I think when the show is most true to itself in its vision, it’s somewhere between, like,
Daft Punk and My Bloody Valentine. There’s a lot of emphasis on acid house and stuff you can both dance and also veg out to if you want, however you’re feeling.
S: Okay, that sounds like fun .
VK: It is very fun. It’s a great time too; I often find myself just dancing in the studio during the 15-minute blocks of songs, I’ll just take my headphones off. It’s hard not to dance to a lot of what I play.
S: I think it’s right after Destination Moon, right?
VK: Yeah. I don’t want to say “jarring,” but to
go from a lot of, like, ’60s surf tunes to hard techno is always a very, very fun switch-up.
S: Yeah . Sometimes, I’m still driving home, and I catch the very start of the show . But I’m one of those listeners who usually only listens when I drive around .
How did you get started at CKUW? Why did you want to start spirit .303?
VK: The first time I was on air was around late 2022 on a show called Signal Distortion over at UMFM, the other [university] station. And it’s a great show. The host is one of my best friends, Luc Mayor. They invited me on for a guest set, and it was nerve-wracking going into it, but it was incredibly fun and rewarding on the first time and a lot easier than I expected. About six to eight months later, during Pride Month in 2023, CKUW — I’m a student at U of W, so that’s my school — was holding open guest slots for volunteer sets during one week, and I couldn’t not take the opportunity. I had so much fun the first time around, getting the opportunity to build my own set again and go on air. It went very well and, not long after, we got to talking and I put my show proposal together. It took a long time to do just because of school and other priorities, but once I got a lot of things I needed to do out of the way, that’s how I’m here now. It was a long journey, but I’m happy to be where I am now.
S: I’m very curious about the name .
VK: spirit.303, it’s just sounds I really like. Maybe it’s because it has numbers in it. That’s part of it. Coming up with a name for it was weirdly one of the hardest parts of putting the show together. Because I feel like if the name isn’t good, then what are we even doing?
KEELEY BRAUNSTEIN-BLACK
PHOTO PROVIDED BY VICTORIA K
I wanted to settle on something simple and something kind of punchy and I felt like the word “spirit” was fitting for the show [and captures] its nature. It’s very danceable. It’s very psychedelic and ethereal and cerebral often. And I felt like putting numbers in it, [which] sticks in people’s brains for a long time. Growing up in the 2000s, the biggest station in Winnipeg was HOT 103. Even now, that station is long gone, but the name just sticks in my brain because it’s simple, it’s got the numbers, and it’s got a ring to it. I also took some inspiration from 303s — that’s a common instrument that people use in a lot of acid house songs — and groups like 808 State. All those things boiled up in my brain and somehow it [culminated in] spirit.303, the name.
S: Do you have a process for picking the songs? People are always
curious to hear about how a DJ chooses .
VK: Every episode, I like to explore a different sound, but still [have it be] adjacent to its core genres and ethos of the show. I like to pick a few of my favorite songs or songs that really define the specific sound I want to go for in any given episode. And then I just build around those, usually. I wouldn’t say there’s a narrative to any of the episodes, but I like to sort them as if they were a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. I like to arrange them as if there were a beginning, middle, and end or an experience that takes you to one place and you end up in another.
S: I know your show is pretty new, but how do you connect with your audience?
VK: When I’m on air between songs, I really feel like it’s important just to
show up authentically and to be myself. And I think what’s great about that, in terms of connecting to an audience, is that [for] those who do listen to the show and enjoy it, I think there’s a real resonance to that connection. It subverts a lot of radio from decades past where there was a lot more restrictions on more mainstream radio hosts [where they] often felt the need to put on characters or they had to be restricted to whatever kind of musical style that the station wanted them to play.
Especially now, when most people just get content from the internet — which gives them essentially whatever they want — it’s very important for radio hosts to show up as themselves or authentically or as their own vision, which is, I guess, less compromised, if that makes any sense. It’s a little bit more genuine.
Maggie A. Clark’s Favourite Albums of 2024
The year draws to a close. The usual signifiers of the season put in their scheduled appearances: the sidewalks and rooftops lined with snow, trees and eavestroughs strung with lights, doors bedecked with wreaths. There is a palpable cheer in the air. All of this can only mean one thing.
It’s time for some half-baked listicle slop, baby! Seemingly every media outlet spends their December churning out their curated selections of the year’s best songs, albums, movies, books, games, etc. — so why shouldn’t I compel Stylus to get in on the fun?
Who am I to resist the omnipresent allure of list-making?
But first, some parameters: the standard approach of assigning each entry a ranked number — as if experience is so easily separable from context, as if art can be reduced to a math problem — feels vulgar and pedantic. Unfortunately, this is more or less what the activity requires. So, as
a compromise, I wrote down ten of my favourite musical releases from 2024 and arranged them in an (obfuscatory) alphabetical order.
All of these albums are pretty darn neat, so don’t bother asking me which is #1. That’s not for me to say. I will simply be taking my secrets to the cold, hard grave.
Hysteresis State — Kelsey Braun
Winnipeg-based label Makade Star has been issuing some truly remarkable field recordings lately. I reviewed Hazel Fog’s self-titled for Stylus in the June/ July issue and Braun’s album is likewise worth highlighting. “Abandoned Observatory” evokes what it says on the tin. Picture a more hypnotic and stirring version of the spooky sound effect compilations they pipe in to haunted houses, replete with warbling electronic sirens, flowing water, gusts of wind, the creaking of floorboards and machinery, birds chirping, wolves howling, and (perhaps best of all) geese
honking. Honestly, that’s one of the more reliable ways to get me on board with a sound collage: just put some goose honks in there!
Keeper of the Shepherd — Hannah Frances
Captivating (in a wistful sort of way) from the opening couplet: “The brilliance of the day waits for you to wake again / Patient in the way I waited for you to love me again.” Being that my default countenance is that of a person who just went through a tough breakup but is putting on a brave face about it, Keeper of the Shepherd — a set of lilting mid-tempo meditations on the inevitability of loss — really hits the spot.
“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” — Godspeed You! Black Emperor
GY!BE is a near-automatic inclusion in my yearly top 10 whenever they have a new album out and their latest is no exception. I never seem to tire
of their apocalyptic guitar drones, swelling strings, and — who could forget? — undercurrent of implied anarcho-communist agitprop. Blasting this album while walking home from a friend’s bonfire imbued my late-night stroll with a foreboding grandiosity; it was perhaps the single most powerful album-listening experience I had all year.
Bless Me — Grocer
I know I never completely outgrew my saccharine teenage emo phase because pop-punk songs about being a lonely, confused dirtbag just trying their best to navigate the world and make their life count for something still resonate with me. Go figure.
How
Much Can We Understand —
Fero Király
A series of computer-generated chimes. This is music for falling asleep to or for staring blankly out a bus window on a rainy day. Very soothing.
Blue Raspberry — Katy Kirby
Hey, you all remember what I said about the Hannah Frances album a few paragraphs ago. Now imagine this: an album that’s thematically similar but with more piano and homosexuality. Does that do anything for you?
Diamond Jubilee — Cindy Lee
As a habitual crossdresser myself, it does the heart good to see fellow
traveler Cindy Lee rise to new levels of popular and critical acclaim with the Polaris-shortlisted Diamond Jubilee. Clocking in at a little over two hours, I will grant that it can feel like a test of endurance at times, but there’s a lot to like here. Considering how many of its songs are these deliberately schmaltzy riffs on the doo-wop love ballads of the 1950s and ’60s, it’s a testament to Lee’s performative prowess that I can adopt a simultaneously ironic and sincere posture in my admiration of it. The album’s production is a marvel as well: I love how it distorts the instruments to sound crunchy and ever-so-slightly pitched-up, as if blaring from a defective stereo. Noise pop at its finest!
VICTOR — lll人
This is the most unhinged free jazz I’ve heard in ages; I mean this as a high compliment, naturally. When your band has a guy whose main role is to fuck around with the microphone feedback, that’s when you know you’re onto something. The interplay of Daichi Yoshikawa’s electro-cacophony and Seymour Wright’s saxophone shrieking — while Paul Abbott crashes away at full-tilt on the drums — is simply exhilarating. Listening to this album makes me giddy in a way that little else does. I feel like I could run straight through a brick wall. (And if any British jazz enthusiasts out there would like to tell me how to pronounce
Local Releases
The unknown is intimidating because, by definition, it’s unfamiliar. This can express itself as fear — either unfounded or rational — or alternatively, as fascination. Regardless, uncharted territory is worth exploring when there’s a choice, as one never knows what one might find. It’s easy to surround oneself with the recognizable
this trio’s name, I’m all ears.)
3+5 — Melt-Banana
Come to think of it, this album also makes me feel like I could run through a brick wall. Rock ’n’ roll never died, folks: it just got faster and more angular. How nice of these two to emerge from an 11-year recording hiatus approximately five seconds after I was first made aware of them!
Spectral Evolution — Rafael Toral
I briefly touched on this in my send+receive piece elsewhere in this edition, but it’s worth putting a finer point on it. This is a phenomenal record. I understand that “sprawling, album-length instrumentals for theremin and electric guitar” might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this is beautiful stuff. I’m a bit melancholic that I’ll likely never again hear the quadraphonic live version he played at s+r in October, but that’s just life — an onslaught of strange and wondrous moments slipping all-too-soon from one’s grasp, never to be recovered. What else is new?
There you have it. That’s the list. As always—if you disagreed with any of my selections or think that I snubbed your favourite artist, feel free to write me an angry email about it or yell at me in the street!
and “safe.” But isn’t life more exciting when deliberately leaving room for surprise?
This is where I was at when learning that Dinner Club was “trumpet-infused punk rock” (as they describe it). Seemed to me like a replacement expression for “ska punk” (which isn’t really my jam). However, while some of the sound is at times not unlike The Mighty Mighty BossToneS or Rancid, their latest release Brave Faces definitely leans
more punk, and I like what I hear … even with the horns.
The ten-song LP by and large deals with the interplay of certainty and uncertainty, whether it’s reminiscing about how things used to be (as opposed to how things are now), ruminating about relationships that are only half under our control, or wondering how things will turn out in the future (when the present feels like an unaided drifting). There’s definitely also a particular
DINNER CLUB BRAVE FACES
emphasis on place, with allusions to small town fairs in “Untouchable,” an ode to Winnipeg itself in “Stomping Grounds” (with references to Garbage Hill, the Manitoba Legislative Building, and the Forks), and their upbeat cover of “One Great City” by The Weakerthans with a few modified lyrics.
All in all, it’s an energetic sophomore album with a good balance between the back-and-forth of the brother/sister vocalists, pacing, strategic stops/starts, sing-along-ability, and scifi references. Combine this with a blend of trumpet, pedal steel and references to this city we hate/love, and that’s Brave Faces (which the band says you can stream, buy, or — in good punk rock fashion — steal). Mykhailo Vil’yamson
ATTICA RIOTS
LIFE’S A SUGAR PILL
After six years of radio silence (aside from live performances), Attica Riots finally released their second EP. Life’s a Sugar Pill dropped on December 9th of last year, and it doesn’t disappoint at all. It has the same upbeat, melancholy-ish vibe they are known for. Their new EP has five songs that are all lovely in their own ways, and I’m thrilled to have the pleasure of reviewing them all as my
first article for Stylus.
“Mile Away,” the fifth and last song on the EP, is hands down the best song on the album. It talks about a missing girl in a small town, with lyrics repeating “she’s just a mile away,” with a chilling guitar and bass track that really adds to the whole atmosphere of the song. Hearing this song live in concert feels like you’re actually in this scenario and helping a search crew look for the girl. Absolutely chilling. However, I do not want to overlook the quality of the other songs on the album.
“Baptism,” the first tune, is amazing because it has a slow, easy-going tone with an amazing guitar track.
The second track on the album, “Forgiven,” has a more upbeat party spirit to
it, with darker lyrics. You can definitely dance to this one.
“Mountain,” the third song, has a bittersweet energy with a slow and calm piano track throughout. The fourth track, “Who’s That?” is a slower and more chilled-out tune, with a mellow drum and guitar track. This song also has a darker mood by evoking a sense of paranoia by repeating the lyrics “who’s that?” Chilling, disturbing, but punchy.
From the slow and reassuring vibe of “Baptism” to the mysterious and darker sound of the final track, “Mile Away,” this album is nothing short of beautiful. I highly recommend that you check out the EP, especially if you are interested in listening to more local bands. Jamie Glenwright
TTARP PERFORMING A ARP PERFORMING AT THE T THE HANDSOME DAUGHTER NOV 15 HANDSOME DAUGHTER NOV 15..
