OCT/NOV Volume 27 2016 Issue 5
www.stylusmagazine.ca
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
1
2 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
OCT/NOV 27 NO. 5 2016 VOL
Production Team
On the Cover
Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gil Carroll
AUTUMN CROSSMAN SERB is an illustrator and comic artist whose work primarily focuses on monsters, religion, and feminism.
Assistant Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victoria King
See more of Autumn’s work on twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram at @akitron.
Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelly Campbell Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Autumn Crossman Advertising Contact . . . . . . . . . Rob Schmidt manager@ckuw.ca Print by JRS Print Services . . . 204-232-3558
Contributors Rachel Narvey Nicole Tomala Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrel Isaac Tate Daniel Colussi Kelly Ruth Topher Duguay Broose Tulloch Chris Bryson Hazim Ismail Bailee Woods Jalani Morgan Jen Doerksen Autumn Crossman Serb
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.
Table of Contents Blah, Blah, Blah Events Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Live Bait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 CKUW Program Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Prairie Punk Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 CKUWho Amateur Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Reviews The Shuvs // Baba Maal // Holy Void // more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Features Civvie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Value of POC Safe Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Mr. Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Stiff Little Fingers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Royal Canoe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Balanced Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
www.stylusmagazine.ca
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
01
s k c o l e v Lo
02 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
BLAHBLAHBLAH The bitt e r - sweet smell of winter has begun creeping into our beautiful city. Warm up at some these cool live shows happening in Winnipeg*** Andy Shauf is at the Park Theatre on October 6. Over at the Good Will, iansucks release their much-anticipated debut with Slow Spirit and Shoal Lake Kid *** October 7 is the Handsome Daughter’s Two Year Anniversary with the Jom Jom Club. No cover, cheap drinks. And if you’re feeling irie, Ziggy Marley is over at the Burt ***October 8, Vancouver punks Blessed are rocking out at the Handsome Daughter with locals Fox Lake and 1971. That same day, Belvedere with Clipwing, Asado and Elder Abuse at the Windsor Hotel. Also on the 8, local surf rock pioneers, the Catamounts, have their album release with Marshall Birch and the Buddy
System at the Good Will *** October 11 at the Handsome Daughter, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is in town from Calgary with local yacht rockers, the Middle Coast *** Yeezus comes to Winnipeg. October 12 is Kanye West at the MTS Centre *** October 13 catch the Dead South at the Good Will *** October 15 is a super intense local bill at the Handsome Daughter with Holy Void, Black Cloud, and Apollo Suns. Balanced Records celebrates their 15-year anniversary at Forth *** Birds of Chicago are at the West End on October 20 *** Pipe & Hat are hosting two nights at the Good Will. Between October 21 - 22, you can see Indicator Indicator, SC Mira, Lanikai, and more! *** October 22, local indie rockers the Vitals release their album at the Handsome Daughter with Miesha and the Spanks and Robojom. That same day, Halloween Howl: the Ani-
SLOW SPIRIT AT HARVEST MOON SEPT 17 www.stylusmagazine.ca
malistics (reunion show), the Lovers and the Murder Birds at the Windsor. Over at the Garrick, it’s Boy & Bear *** The Strumbellas and the Zolas are at the Burt October 25. Stiff Little Fingers finally make their way to Winnipeg with Sawchuk at the Garrick Centre *** Great Lake Swimmers with Megan Bonnell are at the Park Theatre on October 27 *** Oct 28 catch DRI HIEV at a house show with Permanent Mistake, Pleasure Dens *** Donovan Woods is at the Park Theatre with Joey Landreth on November 1 *** November 4, come get lost with the Ripperz, Mobina Galore and Audio/Rockery at the Park Theatre. John K Samson releases Winter Wheat at the West End *** November 5 at the Windsor Hotel, Yes Wave presents Lev Snowe, Ivory Waves and Pleasure Dens*** November 9, don’t miss Hannah Epperson at the Good Will with Joanne Pollock *** November 10, local heavy
hitters, KEN mode have their Nerve EP release with Tunic and Beth at the Good Will *** November 11, Big Fun Presents a gruesome show with DRI HIEV, HSY, and Pleasure Dens at the Handsome Daughter. Over at the Windsor, Chixdiggit and that same day, NOFX with Pears and Useless ID at the Burton Cummings Theatre*** CR Avery is at the WECC on November 12. A hop, skip, and a jump away is Duotang’s Occupation album release at the Good Will *** Saturday, November 19 is James Vincent McMorrow at the Park Theatre *** Tuns are at the Good Will on November 26 for the Club’s TwoYear Anniversary! *** The next night, PUP are there with Meat Wave and Chastity.
PHOTO BY JEN DOERKSEN Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
03
BY RACHEL NARVEY Often, the act of listening to music is like trying on a costume. We all have songs that help us to transform, whether that means bolstering our confidence or softening the stress of a long day. Rarely does music get under our skin and shake us up a bit, or force us to turn inward and confront ourselves. Enter Winnipeg experimental band, Civvie. Together, the three-piece creates tracks that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck in a way that you didn’t know you wanted. “People have described it as cinematic in some ways, and listening to it, it’s very atmospheric,” says bassoonist Alex Eastley. “It lets people create their own visuals to accompany what’s happening.” “It’s dark but hopeful at the same time,” adds cellist Natanielle Felicitas. “We move from delicate sounds to a noise that’s gritty and aggressive.” While Felicitas and Eastley play classical instruments, the third Civvie member, Kelly Ruth, brings an unconventional element to the band’s instrumentation. “I’m a visual artist,” Ruth says, “but I also have a musical background, I play trumpet, sing, and write electronic music. I’m a weaver, and I started to notice that process sounded like electronic music. I thought ‘I want to write electronic music with the loom!’” Her instrument, constructed from a loom, contact microphones, and loop pedals, creates sounds comparable to machinery, to breath, to horses’ hooves against the earth. If this sounds outrageously cool, you’re not alone in thinking so. All three musicians expressed their admiration for each other
04 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
PHOTOS BY KELLY RUTH before they began working together. “We ended up doing just the loom and cello for a little bit, and then I met Alex around town,” Ruth says. “I happened to meet her on a day where I was really excited about what I was doing, and when I told her about it she said ‘Oh! I would really like to jam with you!’ But because she played in the symphony I was too intimidated.” “Yeah!” Eastley adds. “I kept suggesting that we play together.” “Yes!” Kelly laughs. “She was courting me for a year.” Not only are the band members excited to work together on this project, they’re also excited to do it in a city they love. “I have a big crush on Winnipeg,” Felicitas says. “There’s just this genuine interest in collaborating without a lot of pretension. It’s not that people want to know your credentials, it’s like ‘Oh, you play?’” “It’s also different than a bigger city like Toronto, where there’s a greater opportunity to make money,” Ruth says. “I think the economy here facilitates creation for creation’s sake... you can be creative without as much pressure to be commercial.” That kind of creative freedom is important to the members of Civvie. Although each are versed in multiple genres, they’re all especially passionate when it comes to making experimental music. “Since I play in the symphony this is something completely outside of my job,” Eastley says. “I find it liberating. It’s another way of making music, it’s a new scene and a different way of thinking.”
“I guess similarly, I play a classical instrument,” Felicitas adds. “So the expectation when people see it is that I’m gonna play something classical. Most of my work has been in pop, rock, and folk, so I’m often accompanying a singer/songwriter, or a band, or playing a wedding or something like that. As Alex said it’s just so liberating to not have to worry about what’s written on the page or what someone wants you to do. It’s more conversational. You can stretch the limits of what’s expected of your instrument.” Civvie plans to release their first album, Inheritance, this coming year. The images that will appear on the album are from a recent trip of Ruth’s to Chernobyl. There, she visited the exclusion zone where the power plant had exploded and was able to see the state of the land three decades after the devastation. “I think there’s a lot of philosophy and ideology behind what we’re doing,” she says. “We might not all be having the exact same philosophy in there, but [for this album] we were talking a lot about the destruction of the earth, what’s left over for the next generation. It’s this tension of the land taking back what the people took from it.” Civvie will be performing with Greenhouse and Rosa Reaper at the Good Will on Sunday, October 30.
THE VALUE OF POC SAFE SPACES
BY HAZIM ISMAIL PHOTO BY JALANI MORGAN
Several months ago, I found myself on an airplane headed for Toronto. A few hours before the flight, I was crouched over my luggage, splayed open on my bed, a wounded soldier, clothes spilling out like viscera. I was hesitant about going to Toronto for the Canadian Federation of Students’ extensively planned event, the Racialized and Indigenous Student Experience (RISE) Summit. It wasn’t because I had failed to grasp the value of a safe space for racialized and indigenous community members to converge. I was however doubting how much it would shift my social and political lens. My pending immigration turmoil meant that boarding flights would serve as a discouraging burden. RISE blasted every vestige of doubt I had clutched onto. Every second spent in that space, where people of colour and indigenous peoples converged, coalesced, fleshed each other out, dripped with empowerment and healing. There were sharing circles. There was music. And dancing. There were incredible speakers and there was heartbreak. There were a lot of tears, but there was always a circle of newfound comrades of colour to validate each other’s marginalized experiences.
www.stylusmagazine.ca
Oppression is exhausting. White supremacy and privilege drain the soul. And having to expend energy defending one’s own racialized experiences, being tone-policed to expatiate on triggering throwbacks to justify emotions stemming from those racialized experiences costs so much energy and patience. Energy and patience that could be channeled into actually building the bridges needed to affirm our identities, fortifying them enough to withstand the storm of oppression racialized and indigenous peoples face on a daily basis. Not having to use a single second convincing a white self-proclaimed ally they’re not racist, sacrificing my own sense of self and hurt to proffer the ally another excuse to rest on their privilege... was exhilarating! It was a weekend that taught me how crucial it is that the marginalized, the oppressed, the racialized have access to safe spaces (or spaces as safe as they can be) where collectively, certain oppressive lenses are not tolerated. These safe spaces are fuel for people of colour, people like me who struggle on a day-to-day basis, trying to keep afloat with each wave of racism I’m forced to deal with.
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
05
BY TOPHER DUGUAY ILLUSTRATION BY FUNILAB
Australian DJ and musician, Mr. Bill has released nine full length albums and has collaborated with dozens of influential members in the electronic music scene from around the world. They will be in Winnipeg on October 29 at The Pyramid Cabaret. We chatted with Mr. Bill over the phone about their upcoming tour. Stylus: So what made you decide to come to Winnipeg, anyway? Mr. Bill: I didn’t decide to come to Winnipeg per se. I’ve played there once before with Chris Komus, and I really loved the place - so not coming back for three years definitely wasn’t all my call! Refer to my Facebook post on how tours are developed. Stylus: I’ve heard about the worst show you’ve ever played in a previous interview, so what was the best one? MB: Hard to say, but Lucky Festival in Tacoma with KJ was definitely the biggest I’ve ever played. Somewhere from 4,000 - 5,000 raging kids - yeah, you know it’s big when your differential perception is 1,000 fucking people - what’s the next step from there? “Oh it was somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000.” Stylus: I noticed that you said you primarily use Ableton’s native VSTs for composition – is that still the case and if so, how come? I’ve noticed they tend to have a pretty poor reputation for whatever reason. MB: Really? See I’ve know them to have quite a good reputation, actually. I mean shit Culprate makes almost all his basses with Operator, and he’s one of the best for sure. What’s that old saying? A bad craftsman never blames his tools? I’d agree with that in this sense. Ableton native plug-ins are totally capable of doing some nutty shit if you’re also capable of doing some nutty shit! Stylus: Since you’re very into sound design, what are your feelings on subtractive synthesis vs FM synthesis (and additive synthesis, depending on how much you’ve messed around with that)? MB: They’re different. I would never try to get some metallic bell sound out of a purely subtractive synth (luckily Operator does both, hey? hehe) - and I’d rarely try to make some old Warp Records, detuned synth sound using FM really (although I guess you could actually). I’d say FM synthesis may be more versatile, but subtractive synthesis is probably more functional (depending on your goals). Additive syn-
06 Stylus Magazine August Oct / Nov / September 2016 2016
thesis has kinda become my new favorite thing actually! Things like Razor, Icarus, Lazerbass, etc, they all just have SUCH an amazing sound to them. Stylus: Is there any carry-over from your days as a metal musician to what you currently do when you play live electronica? MB: Absolutely. A lot of the playing on the drumpad is super technical, and very arbitrary sometimes - and in that way it reminds me of playing metal. You never really improvise in metal, the idea is to just make the most technical thing ever, practice it 1,000,000 times, then play it exactly that way on the day. A lot of parts in my set are like that, but a lot are also kinda improvisable, too. Stylus: Do you have any hopes for where “the scene” (electronica in general) will go in the future? I know you mentioned you liked what Flume is doing right now. MB: I love what Flume’s doing. This is gonna’ sound like the stupidest, and saltiest thing to say - but I’ll say it anyway. I really hope that to get to any sort of ‘level’ in electronic music, you should have to be doing something that is actually interesting, which sounds stupid, right? Because, what’s interesting differs from person to person. Basically, what I’m sick of seeing is people DJ’ing WAVs out of Ableton, or from USB sticks in CDJs and talking on the microphone every two or three mixes - like, that’s their performance... People seem engaged, and good for them, if they’re having a fun time, and everyone’s loving it, then that’s great! But, I can’t help but think two things: a. If those DJs were forced to be restricted to their own catalogs, how many of their sets would become extremely underwhelming overnight, and b. If the audience really understood what they’re doing, would they still be so engaged? Or is it the mystification of not knowing what they’re doing so much that’s keeping them interested? Stylus: Can you expand a little further on Corrective Scene Surgery? The idea seems really interesting, although I haven’t seen any of the ‘adaptive comic book’… To add to this, how’s Corrective Scene Surgery coming along? MB: So, the adaptive comic book is in the cover artwork of the tracks. If you go to my SoundCloud playlist and click through the playlist and look at the artwork for each track, so far you can make out a story of a guy that goes to work, gets in a car accident, dies, and is currently based in purgatory I guess. Let’s see where it goes from here, hey? It’s kin-
da all up to Funi as to what he decides to do with it next. As for the musical side of it, I kinda created it to be never ending as my own ‘label’ - a safe space for me to release music that no labels want to release, and to have the security of knowing it’ll always be there, and I think knowing that, and having that has really opened my mind to doing a lot of things I wouldn’t usually allow myself to do musically. Stylus: Since you’ve done at least two largescale collaborative works that don’t seem to have much in common with how most electronic music “works” (The Collaborative Endeavours and Corrective Scene Surgery), do you have anything else like that coming down the pipeline? MB: Well CSS is still going. Hold your horses. Stylus: The music industry is pretty difficult to make a living in as of now, but you’ve managed to do it while not really being a household name as a musician. How’d you do that? MB: I run a website called mrbillstunes.com - and early on, I figured, I’m studying audio production at University, I’m spending all my days on Ableton, or YouTube, learning about Ableton from other people - everyone I worked with at the time, I seemed to always be able to show them better and faster ways to do things, so I figured, why not make tutorials... So, I did, and it kinda snowballed a bit there for a while. So I monetised it by making these large courses on my website, and as modest as I am about most things I do, I totally stand behind these courses. They’re totally worth the money. I’m convinced you should be able to go from not knowing a thing to being able to produce music after watching one of these 10 hour courses (The Art Of Mr. Bill). Stylus: In a previous interview you did, you talked about wanting to start working more with hardware as opposed to software – have you? MB: A little bit, I have a Moog - Mother 32 now, and I’ve been working with that quite a bit (hear the end of “Midichondria”) - it’s nice, I like the randomness of it more than the actually tonality and “warmth” that everyone seems to rant about. Also, something about tactility; getting me off your mouse and keyboard and onto an actual device has some sort of effect on the way I deal with perceiving sound as well, so I do more unexpected things.
PHOTOS BY JEN DOERKSEN
CARLY DOW SEPT 24 AT THE GOOD WILL
www.stylusmagazine.ca
MICAH VISSER SEPT 9 AT THE WECC
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
07
TEGAN AND SARA AT CENTENNITAL CONCERT HALL SEPT 10
PHOTOS BY KELLY CAMPBELL
TOO ATTACHED AT CENTENNITAL CONCERT HALL SEPT 10
08 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS BY KAITLYN EMSLIE FARRELL Big news for Winnipeg punks! Stiff Little Fingers are coming to town for the first time ever! I got to chat with frontman Jake Burns on the phone and he told me the whole story. Stiff Little Fingers have been together since 1977 and have barely experienced Canada. We all know the disappointment of a ‘North American Tour’ which typically includes Toronto, and maybe Montreal. “This time we’re doing it the other way around. We’re just playing in Canada, we’re not going to America,” says Burns. It’s good to know they want to cover more land. “It’s astonishing to be 40 years into a career and still finding new places to go play.” So what’s the secret to four decades of punk? “I think basically, as we’ve gotten older, we’ve obviously grown and matured to some degree. A large part of it is that we all live in completely different cities and parts of the world.” I compared being in a band to a healthy relationship. “Yeah, pretty much,” he laughs. “You get to the end of a long tour and it’s like ‘okay, I love you guys, but I don’t want to see any of you for the next two months.’“ When you get the chance to talk to somebody who was there in the beginning you don’t waste it. Burns was more than happy to give me a first hand account. “Looking back on it now, at the time I don’t think any of us realized just how exciting it really was.” A genre for pariahs, perhaps, but it wasn’t small. “Everybody seemed to be energized by it. There were bands springing up everywhere and I mean that. You’d go to bed on a Friday, there’d be no bands in town, you wake up on the Monday and three bands had formed over the weekend,” says Burns. He also said that every band seemed to have at least one great song.
Sometimes just one though. He compared the thought of getting signed to a label in Northern Ireland at the time to saying “we’re going to fly to Mars.” But in swooped EMI, discovering the financial possibilities. “The fact that somebody believed in you enough to put up a couple hundred quid and you could go in and make a record yourselves was hugely liberating,” says Burns. But they weren’t The Beatles, they did it right. “We never signed the band to a label, we leased the records to a label. We still made them reasonably independently and also we had complete control over what was on them, what they sounded like, and looked like,” says Burns. “So that meant that we still could be distributed by EMI but still write songs about hoping to see Margaret Thatcher’s government come down,” he laughs. “I’m sure everybody on the record label totally voted for Margaret Thatcher.” Naturally there was a lot of bullshit that came out of the entertainment industry version of punk. “From my point of view it was very sad to see punk bands described as if you didn’t have the right number of studs on your leather jacket and the right haircut you weren’t in a punk band. I found that very disappointing,” says Burns. “And a lot of those bands I find devoid of any sort of interest from my point of view because they were all cookie cutter punk rebel bands which just weren’t very good. “ So what about everyone else? The people who weren’t interested in punk. “A lot of them saw punk rock as a sort of vile, unwashed people who couldn’t play more than three chords, and the songs only lasted three minutes,” says Burns. “That’s one of the things I really like about
www.stylusmagazine.ca
it. You don’t have to go to music school to be in a rock n roll band nor should you.” I think Burns is on the same page as music lovers on what we want, so we can expect a great set. He laughed and told me he hates when bands get on stage and say “and now we’re going to play our new album in its entirety and it’s like really? I’m going to the bar.” Yes they’ll play newer music, but they’ll also play older music, and of course “Alternative Ulster.” “The idea is to try and strike a balance,” he says. “It’s a greatest hits set from a band that never had any hits really.” Stiff Little Finger’s future sees a live DVD and CD from a Glasgow performance arriving sometime soon. It’s also their 40th anniversary next year which they intend to celebrate “as much as possible.” But being on the road slows down Burns’ music writing, and he doesn’t want another ten year gap between records. “That was a bit ridiculous really,” he laughs. I ended the conversation by telling him that I’ll be in attendance with my mom. Because that’s what happens when you’ve been around for so long, you make your way into the hearts of multiple generations. He digs it. “And now we find, we go out and it’s a family night out. We never saw that coming! But that’s great, that’s really cool!” Stiff Little Fingers are rattling the walls of The Garrick Centre on October 25.
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
09
ART BY HANNAH DOUCET
BY CHRIS BRYSON Royal Canoe are a band that have come to exist in their own specific time and place within the Winnipeg music scene, and the music scene at large. Their hybrid sound is a combination of funk, R&B, and hip-hop influenced pop that’s distinct and continually on the edge of innovation, with the uncanny ability to shift shapes and transmute themselves within a song. They’ve created an aura of meticulously textured space that melds the analog and electronic into something truly their own. Having toured extensively with their last album Today We’re Believers, which was nominated for the 2014 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year, the band has gained a lot of traction in the music world. The increased exposure led them to opportunities to tour with bands like alt-J and Bombay Bicycle Club and to play larger scale festivals like Osheaga, Iceland Airwaves, and Bonnaroo. Over the past couple years the band has been working on their newest album, Something Got Lost Between Here and the Orbit, with the same ear towards innovation and an increased focus on direction. “It was different because we had a little bit of a better idea of what we wanted to do,” says Matt Peters, who plays keyboards, acoustic guitar, and is the lead vocalist of the band. “We knew that we were working on this record and we kind of had a sense of things that we did on the first album that we wanted to focus on in this album. And so that really helped focus our attention,” explains Peters. “And we were less sort of randomly fishing for ideas and seeing what happened.” The increased focus hasn’t taken away from the band’s tendency towards experimentation
10 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
though; if anything, it’s verified their strengths in those measures. “There’s so much experimentation in the songwriting process,” explains Peters. “Looking for a different angle on things but still feeling organic, still feeling like it has a skin on it, that collision of the digital and the organic or the electronic and the analog, all of those sort of dualistic things, I guess in our music we’re always trying to push together opposing forces and see what comes out of that, out of that collision, what’s lurking in there.” The new album Peters describes as an attempt to “explore more of that thuddier, deeper, darker hip-hop rhythmic side and still some R&B feel in there,” but they still wanted to have words and moments that they can connect with on an emotional level. With their most recent album Royal Canoe enlisted Ben Allen (Deerhunter, CeeLo Green, Bombay Bicycle Club, Animal Collective) to coproduce and mix the album. Peters found Allen’s methods of direction insightful and challenging, calling bullshit when necessary and pushing them in directions that only an unbiased, informed third party can do. As Peters explains, “pushing us in certain ways and encouraging us and just challenging us in the right way. Because I think it’s one thing to just be critical and be like ‘oh, I don’t like that’, but it’s another thing to really know how to inspire somebody, and I think he’s so good at that. Also one thing that he told us that I think really stuck with us is to make sure that you’re telling a story musically. Not necessarily with the words, but just in terms of how the music unfolds, make sure that your songs are telling a story. And I think that helped us with that, mak-
ing sure that things were there for a reason and that every part has something to say.” After three years of touring for their last record, Peters says the band found that they lost touch with the people that they cared about back at home. He says they were still texting and keeping in contact through Facebook and social medias but felt they were drifting apart from the things they used to identify with back home. This brought about the thematic foundation of the album, “especially the album title,” as Peters explains, “sort of drives the bigger theme to the record.” “I think it’s all about that feel of disconnection and looking for something more real than what you get just staring into your phone, or what you get through a long-distance relationship or a long-distance connection; it’s trying to have a real tangible moment. And feeling like it’s getting harder and harder to make that connection these days.” After an epic album release at the Burton Cummings Theatre on September 15, Royal Canoe are on tour for most of the fall and winter. You can see them back in the ‘Peg at the West End Cultural Center between December 14-18 for the musical adaptation of Richard II. Something Got Lost Between Here and the Orbit is available via Nevado Music.
www.stylusmagazine.ca
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
11
6AM
5AM
4AM
3AM
2AM
1AM
MIDNIGHT
11PM
10PM
9PM
8PM
7PM
6PM
5PM
4PM
3PM
2PM
1PM
NOON
11AM
10AM
9AM
8AM
7AM
6AM
the Black And Red room
AMPLIFIED RADIO
MODERN JAZZ TODAY
METAL MONDAY
COMEDY
THE JOKE’S ON YOU
CheezePleeze
Sock-Hop-A-Go-Go
DESTINATION MOON
Garage, Punk, Surf,and R&R
THE TONIC
THE World WORLD
ROUGE PRIMATE
INNER CITY VOICES
MADE IN CANADA
GLOBAL ROTATIONS
New Classical
THE HAPPY STATION SHOW
SYNDICATED - WORLD MUSIC
GLOBAL-A-GO-GO
YOUR SHOW HERE
PUNK W/ LOCAL FOCUS
RAUNCH RADIO
LISTENING PLEASURES
MONKEY SPARROW
11 AT 10 Sports: Proper Footaball
PLAYING THE BLUES
BLUESDAY
A Rock ‘n’ Roll History Lesson
IN THE POCKET
Home and No Home
SYSTEM KIDZ
YOUR SHOW HERE
Storytelling
BACK TO BONOBOS
GROUNDSWELL
MAKING CONTACT
THE GREEN MAJORITY
COUNTRY
BOOTS & SADDLE
WINGS
SHORTWAVE REPORT
STATIC ON THE PRAIRIES
POP/ROCK
THIS WAY OUT
DEPARTMENT 13
This Way Out
TROUBLE WITH THE SANDMAN
THE EXILE FILES
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Grindcore
BLAST OR BUST
Local Experimental Music
S.A.N.E. * RADIO
Rock ‘n’ Roll
Country/ Roots/ Big, Dumb
TWANG TRUST
So Bad, It’s Good
AMATEUR HOUR
SPACE CADET
MUSIC, OUT OF THIS WORLD
Classical Plus
MUSICNET
FEMISPHERE
R U AWAKE? WOODEN SPOONS
World - Island music
FANTASTIC FRIDAY
THE WONDERFUL & FRIGHTENING WORLD OF PATRICK MICHALISHYN
Electronic
PHASE ONE
THE SEX FILES
POP/ROCK
25TH FLOOR JUKE JOINT
Pop/Rock
TAWNY, THE BRAVE
EAT YOUR ARTS & VEGETABLES
PAGES
YOUR SHOW HERE
Your Show Here
Your Show Here
RADIO ECOSHOCK
99 BALLOONS
SPORTS TALK
FAST FORWARD
YOUR SHOW HERE
MANITOBA MOON
TGIF Live
Electric Dance Party
QUADRAFUNK
Funky
CHECK CA
Latin Urban
MAS FLOW
‘PEG CITY GROOVE
Spotlite on Local Music Scene
New Release Music
NOW SOUNDS
NEAR AND FAR
GLOBAL RESEARCH NEWS HOUR
HOW TO SURVIVE A TORNADO
YOUR SHOW HERE
SUNNY ROAD Roots Music
DEMOCRACY NOW!
ALTERNATIVE RADIO
Jazz
VOYAGE
Morning News Magazine
YOUR SHOW HERE
DEMOCRACY NOW!
PEOPLE OF INTEREST
MORNING BREATH
CRYSTAL PALACE
Dancehall and Reggae
DANCE HALL FEVER
Hip-Hop
RED BOX
Hip-Hop
WE BUILD HITS
PSYCHADELIC ROCK
THE TRIP
SMOOTH OPERATOR
Eclectic Mix
INFLUENCED
THE IVORY TOWER
THE ELECTRIC CHAIR
For Kids (Adults too)
MUD PUDDLE RADIO
TEMPLE OF SOUND
THE SATURDAY MORNING SHOW
GROUNDWIRE
WINNIPEG ARENA IS ON FIRE!
Caribbean
ISLAND VIBES
THE GASHLYCRUMB TINIES
TALKING RADICAL RADIO
RADIO FREE WPG
THE C.A.R.P.
The Completely Asinine Radio Show
12
9
ONLY COWARDS SING AT NIGHT 6 Indie
P.I. NEW POETRY
Your Show Here
Pop / Rock
LOCAL SPOKEN WORD
MUSIC
WEEK
EMAIL:
CKUW@UWINNIPEG.CA
FAX: 204-783-7080
ON AIR: 204-774-6877
NEWS DESK : 204-786-9998
OFFICE: 204-786-9782
WWW.CKUW.CA
ALTERNATING
12 SPOKEN WORD
8
B-SIDES AND OTHER TREATS 3
LISANE ETHIOPIA Human Rights
NEON BEIGE SOUND EXCHANGE
PLANETARY RADIO
RAW COLOURS
Indigenous Artists
THE MEDICINE WHEEL OF MUSIC
Classical and New Age
SHADES OF CLASSICS
Syndicated Music
JAM LIVE!
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY F R I D A Y SATURDAY S U N DAY
PRAIRIE PUNK PERSPECTIVE
BY KAITLYN EMSLIE FARREL
Brace yourself, because summer is over. The frigid temperatures are coming along with the incredibly difficult decision of whether to face the brutal outdoors in order to enjoy shows. It’s going to get blinding with those ice shards of cold torture stabbing you in the eyes. No matter how many layers you wear you’ll still feel like the wind is making bare skin contact with your frail epidermis. And your toes? Forget em! But we suffer year after year the same, so get your familiar butts into that danger zone and keep on going out. I’ll cut you some slack on those days that are an actual health risk with just five minutes of exposure; those are the days to listen to all the albums you bought over the summer. Although the winter is approaching and anybody who has spent more than five minutes with me knows I hate it more than anything else, the summer was pretty good. We typically go hard in the summer because we have a brief period of time where we don’t have to live like survivalists. This summer saw several local album releases as well as tours. It was busy for everyone as local bands took off east or west and touring bands strolled through. There are only a few months of the year in which our coastal friends are willing to cross through the dangers of Winnipeg, and friends a plenty sure did come. This summer we got to mosh with The Tubuloids, Ripcordz, B.A. Johnston, Obscene Being, SWMRS, Seaway, Class Action, Royal
Red Brigade, The Dead Fibres, White Lung, Out of Order, The Nailheads, Big Brother, and Four Year Strong, just to name a few. Hell, we were even blessed with a reunion show of our very own beautiful Pinkslips who played to a packed house at The Windsor. Boy, were we ready for that one. I was in attendance for several of these shows and I can honestly say that they were mostly successful in terms of good times and wild parties. The shows were on weekends as well as weekdays but even the ones with lower turnouts had a strong buzz in the air. It wasn’t all crushed cans and linked arm happiness however, as we had to deal with yet another venue closure, or lockout rather, as what we thought would be our new punk hotspot decided to kick us out. Bummer. The venue topic is a big one though so we’ll have to leave it at that. Let’s just say that everyone was running around like wild headless poultry, trying to relocate a clusterfuck of upcoming shows, with some only a few days away. Most were rescheduled thanks to the commitment of local bands, promoters, and house venues, but unfortunately some had to move on. The community definitely worked together on that one though for some good ol’ fashioned summer bonding. Now, I know I’m whining about weather. It happens every year, get over it. Well it sucks. But you know what doesn’t suck and comes before winter? Fall. And this fall season brings a lot of kick
ass shows for one last hurrah. We’ve got The Jolts, Belvedere, and Stiff Little Fingers touring through to start. Winnipeg’s own The Animalistics are playing a reunion show near the end of October as well, and The Catamounts are releasing a new album. Then of course there’s Halloween, which I’m sure will have excellent show options. Even going into the beginning of winter we’ve got NOFX, Chixdiggit, and PUP coming though. Locals KEN mode are releasing an EP too. We’re set for hibernation in December and January. But hey, who knows? Winnipeg is packed to the brim with punk bands. The musicians are eager, and they’ve got a lot to say. So these “hibernating” months will likely see a lot of new songwriting and time for humane temperatures and a wave of new material to get wild to. If there’s one thing Winnipeg gets right, it’s the amount of art and talent pouring out of it into the hearts of the population and beyond. Now go buy a warm jacket and trudge your boots out to the winter gigs. If the bands are playing, it’s time to go! You can listen to Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell every Tuesday late night, 1-3 AM, on her show Raunch Radio on CKUW 95.9 FM.
BALANCED RECORDS BY VICTORIA KING Winnipeg-based record label Balanced Records celebrates 15-years of music-making! We sat down with one of the founders of Balanced, Adam Hannibal, to reflect. Stylus: So your record label is now a teenager, 15-years-old. How does that sit with you when you think about that? Adam Hannibal: It kind of blows my mind, because it was just a shot in the dark idea when we got together. We had no roadmap or vision of how it was going to work, or what it would result in. I’ve learned a lot over the years . . . It’s going really strong and we’ve solidified our musical identities, built a good reputation. In some ways, it’s as healthy and inspiring as ever. The reasons why I got into it in the first place are still there. Stylus: If someone was entirely unfamiliar with the project, how do you explain what you do and what Balanced records is? AH: So, it got started out of a number of us who were DJs in the mid 90s who were throwing warehouse parties and raves. We started making a shift from being strictly DJs and musical selectors to wanting to make our own music. It was right at the crossroads where computer technology was
12 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
improving enough that people with at-home computer systems could start to make their own music, and making a studio system a lot more accessible. We knew a collective of producers who were just getting started, and who’d been dabbling for a few years. We knew that as DJs, you often just followed record labels from the sound you wanted to go for. So we just thought, we’ll start our own sound and go from there. But what it’s become though I would say, for those who haven’t been exposed to Balanced, is that it started with electronic producers from just out of Winnipeg to artists from all over the world who cross over into all sorts of world music, fusion, with electronic music. We do reggae fused with dub, the Paris to Kyiv music is Ukrainian classical music that’s been remixed, and there’s Inuit throat singing that we’re just coming out with, that’s also been remixed. We’re always trying to blend ancient sounds with forward-thinking futuristic beats. It’s always going to keep me excited to do that because we’re creating these new paths. There’s just something about it that really charges me. Stylus: What are the major lessons that you’ve learned? AH: I think it’s still really important to get out and network and make connections. Our label took
some big leaps forward once I got out there and went to music conferences, and challenged myself to promote us to new people and new markets and I think that really solidified some of our international base. I think we really have learned to plan our release schedules in a timely, strategic way, a lot more than before. We’ve got all the infrastructure in place to do that. It’s interesting because promotion has really shifted from handing out posters and flyers and pounding the street, to doing sponsored ads on Facebook and trying to do an online buzz. Stylus: What are some highlights for you? AH: There’s quite a few actually. Overall, I’m just proud to be associated with all this music that’s been out there. We’ve come close to 55+ titles now, and just the breadth of music and styles, I marvel at a little bit. And then there’s more symbolic awards; DJ Brace has the Juno award, and we did have another nomination in the Aboriginal music category. And I just thought it was good to recognize that project. We’ve had some interesting collaborations. One of our artists did some work with Angelo Badalamenti, who did a lot of work with David Lynch. I’m proud of this Paris to Kyiv project, because it’s been in the works since 2009 and it just came out this year. I think the reputation we’ve built
is to have a lot of fun parties with music people can dance to. Music they might not be familiar with, but music they can trust is just fun and creative and innovative. I’m proud of all the graphic artists we’ve worked with who’ve been really creative and put some thought into the overall packaging and design looks. We’ve had a fairly multicultural roster, and I think back to how we had some early work with Sarah Michaelson before she was a DJ. We’ve crossed paths with so many types of musicians and opportunities, and haven’t been entrenched in one
particular genre or niche this whole time. I think we’ve lived up to the name ‘balanced’ in a lot of ways. Stylus: So what’s ahead? AH: Just this week, we have a release called Silla+Rise. Silla are two Inuit singers, or chanters, and Rise is Rise Ashen who’s out of Ottawa. And we also have a 15-year compilation that’s hopefully coming out at the end of this year. That’s my goal, to get all the tracks ready and sorted. That’ll be a combination of some of our favourite tracks – new ones, and rereleased ones. Ultimately there’ll be around
30 tracks. That’ll be a testament that’ll really identify what the label has accomplished. On Saturday October 15, you can celebrate Balanced Record’s 15-Year Anniversary at Forth (171 McDermot Ave) with DJ Brace, Solidaze, Seed Organization, and more!
ckuwho?
Listen to:
Amateur Hour with Kent Davies
BY BROOSE TULLOCH Amateur Hour airs every Wednesday from 5-6 PM on CKUW 95.9 FM. Using the mantra “where bad is good, and worse is better,” Amateur Hour host Kent Davies celebrates the good bad, the bad bad, and the ugly. Stylus: What makes something so bad that it’s good? Kent Davies: I think it’s something like B-movies that it kind of becomes a genre in itself. There is a difference between Troll and Troll 2. One is a not a very good horror movie. One has become a comedy without knowing it. Stylus: What interests you about bad creations? What are you seeking? KD: I don’t even know if everything I play is bad necessarily. I think they would be considered bad from a commercial mainstream point of view. There are passionate artists out there that aren’t considered commercially viable but go for it anyway. I want to celebrate those people. Stylus: Not a question, but what isn’t awesome about everything ‘the Shat’ does? KD: I hear he’s a bit of a diva. Stylus: Laughing at or with, any difference? KD: Depending on the artist, there’s a huge dif-
ference. The ones I usually laugh at are celebrities and politically motivated nutjobs. The outsider artist types, I would be laughing in sheer joy of finding something so bizarre or cheesy. They’re usually more passionate and talented than me. So good one them. Stylus: What was the impetus behind the show? KD: It was originally thought up together with another CKUW volunteer. I had wanted them to do it but they didn’t and I thought it was such a fun idea that I would try it anyway. I really didn’t think I’d be doing it eight years later. I thought I’d be swiftly cancelled after a week or two of tormenting the audience. Stylus: Do you scout out material or does it find you? KD: CKUW gets music from around the world and there was such a pile of this bizarre stuff that I thought it was time to make a show that played it. After that, people sent stuff, put albums in my mailbox. I get sent links through Facebook all the time. There is no shortage of material. Stylus: Obviously this is but one facet of Kent Davies, tell us about a facet (or two) that may surprise listeners? KD: I’m doing a history project on the Harvest
www.stylusmagazine.ca
Moon Festival and the town of Clearwater (where it’s held). I’m a true crime and horror podcast fanatic. I have a cat named Special Agent Jack Bauer that the Unbelievable Bargains immortalized in a Christmas song. Stylus: What do you love about Winnipeg? What keeps you here? KD:Well it’s not for the city planning I can tell you that. What I love is the arts and music scene. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet so many incredibly talented good-hearted people. That’s what will keep me here, among other things. Stylus: Tell us about some of the good stuff you dig. We’ve seen you at awesome shows! KD: How long you got? I’m constantly on the hunt for new and interesting music at CKUW. My favourite albums are pretty much anything Brian Eno produced from the 1970s. That and Crass, Nina Simone and Fela Kuti. Stylus: Outside of radio, your best skill set is? KD: Useless movie trivia. Stylus: If we wanted to ply you with beverages, what should we order? KD: Some really great local brews.
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
13
Under the Needle trot, and “Rich Cousins” gets me lost in the circular riff and riches-to-rags story of winning the lottery but losing it all. Breezy and mellow but with real intent, this record creeps up on you. (Self-released, theshuvs.bandcamp. com/releases) Dan Colussi
Now, when I first put this album on, it was in a car stereo driving out to a Renaissance festival . . . yes, I know, what is my life? It’s best not to ask (it was awesome, by the way). What I can tell you, is that this whole album fits the mood of driving on an open road. The first song, “Footprints,” opens up with trumpet, and it sounds like a gunfight in a Western movie is about to take off – which was an excellent road trip starter. It moves away from the soft horn at the beginning into a foot stomping, Folk festival vibe with the powerful female vocals of Jessica
Maros leaving a beautiful eerie taste in my ears (yes, I guess ears can taste). You’ll just have to listen to the album to find out what I mean. “Heart is Black,” the second track on the album, has driving drums, and a more rockin’ vibe. I feel like this could be a breakup song, but one of those that doesn’t make you sad or wish you had the person back, but empowers you, you know? One of those that’s like, get off of the couch, put the ice cream down, retire the granny panties/grandpa gitch you’re sporting, and don’t look back, you fierce, sexy, intelligent, fineas-hell person, you. “Apartment,” the third track on the album, dare I say, is my favorite track. Mostly because I am a slow jam person, and it also sounds kind of like a love song, and I’m a sucker for those too. I get two vibes from this song: first, that feeling of remembering when you first met someone special. Second, reflecting on that time months or years later when maybe things aren’t so fresh between you and your lover, but things are still pretty solid and you wouldn’t have it any other way. “Idiot” opens with a mischievous guitar tone and equally mischievous vocals. Jessica Maros sings, “I’m not your idiot,” and I definitely get a revenge theme or vibe to this song, or a, ‘I know what you’re up to, and my patience is thinning’, kinda vibe. And I love it. I want to get ‘I’m not your idiot’ printed on a t-shirt. “Try,” the fifth song on the album, definitely brings the album back to a very vulnerable place. “Try” is the song
about those breakups that leave you questioning everything. Those breakups that have you drinking six-hourold gas station coffee just to know you’re still alive. No? Just me? Okay. Moving along. “Gambling Man” and “Uh Huh,” are the two party songs on the album. They’re fun-loving songs with a driving beat. “Leaving Brooklyn,” has a feeling of nostalgia or leaving a place (or even a person) that has familiar, fond memories. This song would be one of those songs I would imagine playing in a movie as smalltown Billy drives away to go to college after he just broke up with girlfriend to, ‘see what else is out there.’ “Moon Child,” the second last song on the album, is filled with emotion. Tyler James’ backing vocals are especially present in this song and their vocals work very nice together. This is probably the most electric song on the album – a power anthem. “Midnight Train,” is layered with gorgeous vocals. I’d love to listen to this song on sunny day, outside, with my eyes closed. It’s a relaxing tune, but builds at the end. This album is perfect for driving tunes on a road trip, but more fitting for a road trip to folk fest, maybe not a Renaissance festival. (Kill Canyon, thebandescondido.com) Bailee Woods
haven’t heard anything about Single Mothers in a while. Not that I hear about all the bands I like on a regular basis, but these guys created quite a buzz and the after haze from their last album has finally settled. They’ve probably got a sixth sense for what their fans want because near the end of August they released a surprise EP. Meltdown is a five-song plate of attitude with fulfilling riffs and heavy sound. EPs are always a bit of a tease because of their minimal length, but this is a tease I can bare since the promise for more exists. The first lyrics off the title track are “this has be-
come a project of more vanity than logic,” which perfectly describes their honest, yet satisfyingly clever attitude. The title track perfectly sucks you in to where you need to be for the rest of the listening experience of the EP. The sound in the first three tracks is new yet familiar, but the fourth track “Everybody cool” is a detour into unexplored territory that is working in their favour. They slide into a repetitive pop structure, with grungy, gloomy vocals applied over that authentic Single Mothers tone. The fifth track picks things back up again and leaves you ready for that new album.
Keep an eye on these guys, they seem to know what they’re doing. (Self-released, singlemothersband.bandcamp. com) Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell
THE SHUVS The Shuvs The Shuvs are all about the soft touch. On their self-titled debut, this mellow and soulful Toronto crew finds a mellow spot and stays there. These songs lilt and coo. They pulse and they glide, never in a rush. Opener “Hustle and the Tussle” sets the the tone - gorgeous guy/girl vocal melodies drip like honey over a snappy guitar and gentle, jazzy drums. It’s not so much about where these songs go, as it is setting a vibe and exploring the ways to stay there. Without a doubt there’s a soulful R&B flavour across the whole record, particularly in the smoothout vocal inflections, but there’s also touches of spacey folk guitar and outsider country. I guess the Shuvs are a kind of stoner-soul band, like J. J. Cale and Curtis Mayfield jamming after the room’s cleared out. The danger of a record like this would be the risk of sending the listener off into a narcotized haze, but that’s not the case. “Slow Learner” is a moody midnight burner. “Loner” picks up the pace to a
ESCONDIDO Walking with a Stranger
Recommended if you like Boots and Saddle on CKUW 95.9 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Tuesdays.
Iconoclast
SINGLE MOTHERS Meltdown EP I was just thinking awhile back that I
14 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
Recommended if you like Raunch Radio on CKUW 95.9 from 12:00 am - 1:00 am on Wednesdays.
Ulteriors
ROOSEVELT Roosevelt Roosevelt is a guy who makes bleepy bloop music (the term “electronica” is outdated) and more specifically is making a gleefully 80s-influenced variety that sits right at the intersection of filter house (80s influenced! Fun! Daft Punk!), Italo-Disco (80s influenced! Kind of goofy!), synthpop (he leaves making his work danceable to his remixers!) and synthwave (it’s 80s influenced, but with incredibly thick 2010s production tricks). His music is, if not pure joy, at least a little smile-worthy – how can you dislike a guy whose life ambition appears to be soundtracking a technicolor remake of Miami Vice? Roosevelt’s music remains in one mode (pure 80s cheese), but manages to find nuance within said cheese. “Fever” uses ravey dance stabs to great effect, “Night Moves” is a pure filter house track reminiscent (in the best way) of Kylie Minogue’s dancefloor banger “Can’t Get You Out
Of My Head,” “Moving On” deploys a massively beefed up and propulsive 80s R&B bass riff, and if that doesn’t impress you, the standout on the album is “Close,” a remarkably chill track that somehow makes the goofy Casio drums on every aspiring child musician’s keyboard sound as sexy and futuristic as Casio presumably thought they’d sound back in the 80s. Roosevelt is not necessarily an album whose influence will resonate throughout the eras, but even though it’s firmly indebted to a vision of the past, it’s a very fun vision of the past. Check it out! (City Slang, iamroosevelt.com) Topher Duguay
verses at you, not skipping a beat or slowing down. He’s got some opinions, ya know, and he’s gonna make sure you hear them. But every journey must come to an end, and unlike a mushroom trip, this one won’t leave you feeling empty and distraught in the morning. No, as the final track in The Traveller is named, you’re exiting off this Dakar magic carpet in and at “Peace.” You’re left dizzy but elated. The journey is over and you are now a changed husk of what you once were. Shhhh, you’re safe now. It’s over. Don’t try to speak, you need to rest. Did you enjoy your travels? I knew you would. See you in a few days sweetie, we know you’ll be back. (Knitting Factory Records, baabamaal.tv) Nicole Tomala
Ok kids, here it is, Mama Nicole’s guide to surviving Baaba Maal’s The Traveller. Grab your strongest denim and a breathable tee because we’re going on a trip. You ever had mushrooms
kid? No? That’s ok, just let Baaba guide you into your very first auditory semi-hallucinogenic experience. He is ‘the Traveller’ after all. You’re safe with him. First stop: “Fulani Rock.” Sweet Jesus, he doesn’t waste any time. Mumford & Sons guitarist Winston Marshall may have lent his strings to this heart pounding album, but don’t let that soft British boy lull you into a sense of acoustic safety, because we’re here to party. Within seconds, Baaba Maal’s beautiful voice cries out and a heavy intoxicating drum beat slap your little body up and down until you just can’t take it any more. Ready for stop two? I thought so. The second track, “Gilli Men,” gives you a chance to catch your breath as you’re softly guided through Dakar’s balmy back alleys. Feel that sand underneath your toes? That sun? That calm sense of safety that only comes with a hot pair of old sweatpants fresh out of the dryer? Your journey has just begun, honey. From there, you’re gently lead onto a beach where you’re invited to melt away for a track or two. Time does not exist anymore. You have transcended. You’re welcome. But Baaba’s not going to let you float in that bliss forever. No, no, you have to come down here with the rest of us. Stop number eight: “War.” Yeah, wake the fuck up children, because Lemn Sissay’s got a little something to say to you. Ten minutes and 32 seconds worth of something to be exact. The guest vocalist rhythmically delivers his
that mixes folk and bluegrass elements with indie to make music that basically still sounds pretty much like “indie.” With that being said, there are occasional flourishes of folky instrumentation – “Barbed Wire,” with its stompy percussion and peppy mandolin line, is an example of this (and then the song enjoyably changes things up with a 60s soul throwback chorus). It’s not bad music, of course, but it’s something that you’ve probably heard at least 37 times before, especially if you like going to the Folk Festival. However, one song manages to stand tall above the rest of the songs on the
album, and that song is “Blooming Through The Black.” It uses most of the elements you’d expect from Parsonsfield-esque bands (tropical surfy guitars, percussion in 8ths instead of 16ths, little flourishes of mandolin), but the chorus is just so big and so anthemic that it transcends the limits of its genre to become something truly beautiful and something you can listen to even when you don’t have a delicious Whale Tail in your hand. Strangely enough, Parsonsfield evidently don’t seem to think so, since it doesn’t have its own video on Youtube despite the album being named after
it - Parsonsfield, if you’re reading this review, please realize just how good your song is! (Signature Sounds, parsonsfield.com) Topher Duguay
BAABA MAAL The Traveller
Root Cellar
PARSONSFIELD Blooming Through The Black Parsonsfield are one of those bands
www.stylusmagazine.ca
Recommended if you like Young Folk on CKUW 95.9 from 6:00 am - 8:00 am on Wednesdays.
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
15
Local Spotlight
HOLY VOID For Everything Else Holy Void is a four-piece psychedelic rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Their latest release For Everything Else is a five-track EP that came out in July. The EP opens with a rather abrasive guitar riff that instantly captured my attention. As the rest of the instrumentation comes in, the track transitions into a dark but equally lush texture; one that induces an almost trance-like listening experience. This opening track, “Rise,” serves as the perfect introduction to the five tracks that are to come. The line “I’ve been waiting for the sun to rise again” serves as the first glimpse to the lyrics of this EP. I was instantly drawn in by the delivery of this phrase. With a tone comparable to that of Interpol’s Paul Banks, the vocals sit comfortably atop the broad instrumentation that this track has to offer. After “Rise,” we move forward with “matte plastic,” which is one of my favourite tracks off of this EP. I appreciate the time signature of the track with its driving 3/4 opening that smoothly transitions into a more relaxed 6/8 feel for the entrance of the vocals. The rest of the EP continues with its impressive production, vocals, and instrumentation, the latter of which is given the spotlight on the instrumental track “Point Douglas.” “Point Douglas” is a strong point on this EP that features a gradually descending synth line that seems to make its way through many different pitches and starting points throughout its minute long presence on this track. The slow melodic lines are complemented by a rhythmically dense guitar line. The combination of the two create a nice contrast within the song, making it one of my favourite moments this record has to offer. Holy Void demonstrates an awareness of location and setting with their music. The opening sentence of their Bandcamp description reads, “Holy Void is a nightmare inducing psychedelic quartet hailing from the wintery abyss of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada.” Musically, with For
16 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
Everything Else, the band conveys its cold geographical origin through its dark vocal delivery, thick production, as well as song titles (see “Red River,” “Point Douglas”). I can’t help but think of how this awareness of location reminds me of The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse; an album that draws apparent inspiration from locations (a dissatisfaction with location in particular). The pace of this album can be a tad slow at times, however this is almost entirely made up for as the the gloomy nature of this EP finds its place as it compliments the mood. With For Everything Else, Holy Void successfully creates an exceptionally atmospheric EP perfect for the cold winter months that are quickly approaching. (Self-released, holyvoidband.bandcamp.com) Isaac Tate
LIVING HOUR AT HARVEST MOON SEPT 16
Recommended if you like The Trip on CKUW 95.9 from 4:00 - 6:00 on Saturdays.
PHOTO BY JEN DOERKSEN
95.9 FM CKUW CAMPUS/COMMUNITY RADIO TOP 30 ALBUMS ( July 22 - September 18, 2016) !=LOCAL CONTENT * =CANADIAN CONTENT re=RE-ENTRY TO CHART #
ARTIST
1 ! Holy Void 2 * The Forbidden Dimension 3 ! Surprise Party 4 * The Pack A.D. 5 ! Del Barber And The No-Gretzky’s 6 ! Paris To Kyiv 7 * Badbadnotgood 8 * The Burning Hell 9 * White Lung 10 * Kevin Roy 11 Various Artists 12 * Andy Shauf 13 Deerhoof 14 ! The Zorgs 15 ! Will Bonness 16 ! Lev Snowe 17 Parquet Courts 18 Lakou Mizik 19 ! Mulligrub 20 ! The Famous Sandhogs 21 Explosions In The Sky 22 JC Flowers 23 * Al Tuck 24 * Brendan Canning 25 * Andino Suns 26 ! Zrada 27 ! Billy Simard 28 * Adrian Teacher & The Subs 29 Mogwai 30 ! Dan Frechetteb & Laurel Thomsen
RECORDING
LABEL
For Everything Else
Self-Released Sounds Escaping Sh-Shake Your Booty Self-Released Positive Thinking Cadence The Puck Drops Here True North Fragmenti Remixes Balanced IV Arts & Crafts Public Library Headless Owl Paradise Domino Heartworn Highways Self-Released Day Of The Dead 4AD The Party Arts & Crafts The Magic Polyvinyl Chew On It Transistor 66 Halcyon Self-Released Drifting Off Self-Released Human Performance Rough Trade Wa Di Yo Cumbancha Soft Grudge Self-Released Theia’s Mammon: Skoni’s Ikon Self-Released The Wilderness Temporary Residence Every Twisted Tree Watches As You Pass
Driving Excitement And The Pleasure Of Ownership All Tomorrow’s Parties
Fair Country Home Wrecking Years Madera Legend Being Free Terminal City Atomic Between The Rain
Self-Released Draper Street Self-Released Self-Released Self-Released You’ve Changed Rock Action Self-Released
www.stylusmagazine.ca
Oct / Nov 2016 Stylus Magazine
17
WINNIPEG FOLK FESTIVAL
UPCOMING EVENTS TICKETS: TICKETMASTER.CA / WINNIPEGFOLKFESTIVAL.CA
C.W. STONEKING 12 WITH WASHBOARD HANK
OCT
OCT
13
NOV TIMES CHANGE(D) HIGH & LONESOME CLUB
DEAD SOUTH THE GOOD WILL – SOCIAL CLUB
SHRED 3 KELLY
PARK THEATRE
NOV JAMES VINCENT WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE
BOY BEAR 22 & WITH COBI
GARRICK CENTRE
THE 23 STRUMBELLAS NHL HERITAGE CLASSIC AFTER PARTY TM
BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE
WITH THE ZOLAS
TERRA LIGHTFOOT WITH NATION OF TWO
GREAT LAKE 27 SWIMMERS WITH MEGAN BONNELL
19
MCMORROW WITH ALLAN RAYMAN
PARK THEATRE
NOV
OCT
25
FAIRMONT WINNIPEG
THE PAPER 2 KITES
DEC
WITH HORSE THIEF
PARK THEATRE
DEC PARK THEATRE
5
WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE
MAR
OCT
18 Stylus Magazine Oct / Nov 2016
PARK THEATRE
SOLD OUT
OCT
24
&
JOEY LANDRETH
NOV
THE
OCT BIRDS OF 20 CHICAGO WITH RYAN BOLDT
OCT
1
DONOVAN WOODS
PARK THEATRE
8
WINNIPEGFOLKFESTIVAL.CA
PARK THEATRE WEST END CULTURAL CENTRE