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Feb / Mar 2019 Stylus Magazine
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FEB/MAR 30 NO. 1 2019VOL
Production Team Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gil Carroll Assistant Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . Jen Doerksen Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelly Campbell
On the Cover ANDREW BLAIR is a contemporary artist, illustrator, and designer living and working in Winnipeg. Andrew has hosted workshops, collaborative art installations, and facilitates art exhibitions through his curatorial projects. In January 2019, he was artist-in-residence at Falcon Trails. See more of his work on Instagram @andrewjblair.
Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Blair Advertising Contact . . . . . . . . . Rob Schmidt manager@ckuw.ca Print by JRS Print Services . . . 204-232-3558
Contributors ZoĂŤ Lebrun Bug Cru Chris Bryson Jarret Cole Ryan Haughey Leeor Wild Nigel Webber Britt Valcourt Kaelen Bell BNB Studios Jesse Popeski Sebastian Buzzalino Grace Hrabi Sean Guezen Margaret Banka Derek Loewen Jase Falk Lys Botsula
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Space Jam Yes We Mystic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CKUW Program Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CKUWho Shades of Classics with John Iverson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Winnipeg State of Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Album Reviews: Dana Lee // Homewrecker // + more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CKUW Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Features Mirror Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sonic Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blessed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Begonia: Soul from the Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Snowdance Festival of Music and Winter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Big Fun 2019: Pics! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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BLAHBLAHBLAH We are blessed with endless art and culture here in Winnipeg *** Start your February with experimental sounds from Forthwith Festival at Forth from February 1 to 3 *** Help Tunic celebrate their latest album on February 1 at the Handsome Daughter with Fox Lake and Beth *** Say goodbye to The Middle Coast at their EP release on February 2 at the Good Will Social Club *** Practice your tunes at the Times Change(d) open mic on February 5 with hosts Glenn Radley, Ben De La Cour, and Talie Polischuk *** Real Love Thursday returns to the Handsome Daughter on February 7
with new project Fun Life, Man Candy, and Corail *** Experience some musical performance art at aceartinc. on February 8 with dark folk writers Matt Foster and Gabi Ocejo, and string project SAVANT FLANEUR *** Or head to the Park Theatre for some good ol’ rock and roll with Jamie Buckboro, The Bloody Historians, Thrill Thrill and the Honeysliders on February 8 *** Kick off Fundrive with us on February 8 at the Good Will Social Club with Mahogany Frog, Hut Hut and Softswitch *** On Feb 9 celebrate Trampoline’s newest release at the West End Cultural
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Centre *** Get jazzy on February 12 at the West End Cultural Centre with the Mike Downes Quartet *** On February 14 honour love with The Love Tongues, Thrill Thrill, Juniper Bush and Dizzy Mystics at the Park Theatre, or honour loss of love with Housepanther and Wrecker at the Homewrecker joint EP release at Forth *** February 15 Fundrive Wrap up party at the Handsome Daughter with People’s Republic of Amsterdam, HAVS, and A La Mode *** March 7 at the Handsome Daughter check out the debut from Paige Drobot’s new band, Holy Void, and
J Blissette *** March 28 at the West End Cultural Centre Living Hour releases their new album “Softer Faces” with Urban Vacation and The Castle opening *** March 29 and March 30 also at the WECC catch Royal Canoe releasing their new album WAVER ***
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mirror frame JASE FALK
ILLUSTRATION: BUG CRU
Alison Burdeny releases dark synth compositions under the moniker Mirror Frame, which blends dance beats with ethereal soundscapes. Stylus caught up with Alison to talk about her latest EP, intersectionality in music, and future projects. Stylus: What was the conceptual drive behind your recent Mirror Frame self-titled EP? Alison Burdeny: It was a really long and intense process. I was living in Vancouver from 2014-2016 and at that point in time I was in a band with my roommate called Rage Altar. I was making a lot of music on my laptop which I didn’t find very inspiring, so I bought my first synthesizer that you could write basic songs on. I would sit alone in my room in the dark isolation of the west coast and use that synth to deal with feeling really disconnected from everything and not knowing what I wanted in life. I would get so much joy out of using that synth. I wrote three out of the five instrumentals for what would become the Mirror Frame EP at this point. After a year the synth broke which made me realize just how much it had meant to me. At that point I hadn’t written any lyrics, but looping the patterns over and over again felt really amazing and helped make it feel like it was worth it to wake up in the morning. Once I was able to get new equipment, I was able to turn those little patterns into something that could communicate my experiences and shift the focus from coping with intersecting oppressions into something more social; I could have the instru-
ments play everything and then sing overtop of it allowing the little parts to grow into fuller songs. For the Ep that I put out my primary influences were Crystal Castles, TR/ST and Perturbator. The Crystal Castles inspiration came from loving their music growing up and covering their songs on that first synth that I got. Once the vocalist of Crystal Castles went public about her band mate’s abuse, I couldn’t listen to that band anymore, so I though ‘I have to do this myself now’. S: Your performance at Temporal Contours this fall brought together intersections of disability and gender identity in really interesting ways. How do you use music to approach topics like these? AB: That performance was informed by a process of grieving. I had recently quit work because of a worsening chronic injury and was coming to terms with being disabled and having to completely change my relationship to my body. This included an experience of grieving in public which I invited other people into where I was able to say: ‘I’m owning this part of who I am now. This is a core of my art practice. It’s not apolitical. This is an important thing to reflect on and if other people resonate with this, or share any of these experiences, there can be a connection and some kind of emotional movement and healing. The relationship my music has with my body has always been at the centre of my artistic practice. It’s part of my emotional coping. Music gets me into my
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body, especially performing; I can feel the bass hit me, I know where I am and what I am doing, I know other people are feeling it and I know that there is a lot of power in that. S: What kind of projects are on the horizon for you? AB: There are so many exciting things happening. The EP I released was the cumulative effort of years of learning and exploration that taught me how important music is to me. Since then, I’ve applied to music school. My audition is in four weeks. On March 2nd I’ll be performing at Cluster Fest on the bill with Beastnest. I’m currently writing the core of what I hope will be an LP which I hope to release before I go to school in the fall. Check out Mirror Frame’s self-titled EP which you can support the artist by purchasing at mirrorframe. bandcamp.com
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(((· SONIC ALCHEMY ·))) JARRET COLE 2019 is a big year here at Stylus and CKUW. It is the 30th publication anniversary of Stylus and the 20th anniversary of CKUW’s FM broadcasting license. When you combine the two outputs, it represents a lot of local community media production: fifty years experience collectively! 2019 is also an important year for music in general as we are finally starting to see the end of exponential smartphone sales. Recent stats indicate that four billion adults on our planet now own at least one smartphone, if not two. This long awaited plateau of the smartphone industry will be a welcome change for pop culture and the arts. As the digital dust of the last six years finally begins to settle, we can catch a glimpse of the powerful music making tools in our possession. DIY electronics are on the rise and access to high quality home recording equipment has never been easier. Vacuum tube production has seen an increase in demand, along with a steady rise in global vinyl sales. After the whirlwind invasion of digital signal processing over the last ten years, a truly balanced analog-digital hybridity is starting to emerge. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Winnipeg’s Raymond Rockwell of Rockwell Amplification to talk gear, music, and local mythology on a particularly cold night in the middle of January at Mountain Bean Coffee Shop on Henderson Highway. Jarret Cole: 2019 has all the makings of a great year for music, do you agree? Raymond Rochwell: Totally, I have always thought of music as therapy for the soul. It reflects emotions felt by the artist at the time of writing, and in some cases, those impressions we get last a lifetime. Songs have the ability to link a moment in time to our memories. In my experience, material items do not seem to encapsulate the feeling you get when you hear a song or a riff when it brings back memories of particular time and place. By linking your emotions and memories together, music stirs the soul and makes us feel alive. Artists are finally starting to challenge Spotify and figure out new ways to connect with audiences both live and online. JC: I think we have arrived at a very interesting time for making music as well as enjoying music. Musicians have access to so much great gear, both new and old. Long & McQuade has some really smart cats ordering all the hip new toys, while Kijiji and Reverb provide well-designed websites for browsing the national and international used gear market. Boutique amp designers are coming up with clever re-issues of old classics and some old classics can be had for reasonable prices second hand. Why do you love tube amps so much? Why do you think they remain unsurpassed as amplifiers of sound? RR: Oh man, there are so many layers here. Tube
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amps have a presence and warmth that solid state or digital technology simply does not deliver. Tube amps fill a room with sound, not just your ears. The notes bloom and decay very naturally due to the way tubes operate. Tubes produce more even order harmonics, and these even order harmonics provide the rich, warm sound that so many guitarists desire. The picking dynamics and touch sensitivity of tube amplifiers have no parallel, nor no equal. They fight back, and respond to each individual players touch, no matter how delicate or aggressive their style may be. JC: How did you get into DIY electronics and when did you get serious about building your own custom amps? RR: Well, I’ve always had an inquisitive mind, and in my younger years (2007) I picked up an old beat up 1961 Harmony H306C in non-working condition on the cheap. When I took it in to get quotes on fixing it, the costs were astronomical. So being a true Winnipegger, I decided to fix it myself. I had some basic knowledge about electronics and half decent soldering skills, so I began to do research online and one thing just led to another… I tore the amp apart and rebuilt it from scratch on the kitchen table. You could not wipe the smile off my face when I fired it up for the first time and strummed an E minor chord. Pure magic! I was hooked! I’ve been building and collecting everything and anything that has tubes in it ever since. JC: What projects do you currently have on the go? RR: Right now I am mostly doing custom work. Custom builds and custom modifications. I enjoy the challenge of designing mods that meet the player’s needs. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a new amp, why not just mod what you have and make it work for you? That’s my philosophy and very Winnipeg if I may be so bold. I am a busy guy. I am a new dad and I work a full time day job. I run Rockwell Amplification on the side and am currently working on some sweet products to share with the world. I’m knee deep in a few distortion pedal designs as well as a few amp builds. I’ve added my personal touch to the classic Fender Tweed Deluxe to make it more versatile for the modern guitarists. One problem with the originals is they would fart out on the bottom end when you pushed them hard, but people loved them—even with their quirks! I’ve come up with some capacitor values that actually allow you to overdrive that circuit with humbucker equipped guitars and have the low-end definition remain intact. It was quite a challenge to make the adjustments, but I’m glad I figured out a solution, because my version of that classic Fender circuit is now perfect for both the stage and the recording studio.
JC: Speaking of the recording studio, do you have any tips on getting good tone down on tape? RR: I think understanding how your amp and speaker combinations relate to each other and learning how to adjust your settings accordingly is something a lot of people skip over. Some amps are easier to dial in than others, that is definitely true. Take some time to turn the dials and don’t be afraid to max out your EQ one way or another. I’ve had amps where you have to crank the treble and cut the bass entirely to get them to sound their best. Guitar tone is a highly subjective aesthetic, if you find a setting that fires you up and inspires you play better, than that is the right setting! Leave the settings where they sound good to you, then you can focus on the music coming out of the amp with less distractions—especially in the studio. The other thing I’d like to mention is that volume matters less in a studio environment than on stage. Quite often lower wattage amps can be pushed harder to get them singing with just the right amount of sustain and saturation. Loud amps like 100 watt Marshall Super Leads and Hiwatt DR-103s need a large space to capture their tone accurately. If you are recording in a basement or small studio, stick with amps that are 50 watts or less (18 watts is often ideal) and your overdriven tones will sound better when recorded. JC: Winnipeg is home to some very talented musicians and we seem to have an affinity for culture and the arts. Do you have any insight into what makes Winnipeg such a great place to experience music? RW: Well here is an interesting story, I moved to Edmonton with my family when I was in high school. We were only there for a few years, but in that time I never met a single person that owned an instrument or played in a band. It could have been the area of town, but I can tell you this… when I arrived back in Winnipeg it seemed like everyone was going to shows and jamming with a band, or two, or three! We have one of the biggest folk festivals in Canada and there are a ton of other music festivals all year round. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It could be the six months of winter, or the infinite expanse of the prairie skies, but for some reason people in Winnipeg have a hunger for music the likes of which I have not experienced elsewhere. I am thrilled to contribute to the long lineage of local tube amp designers. It is an honour to be following in the footsteps of Gar Gillies—the genius behind Garnet Amplifiers. In fact, I even purchased a pile of old stock parts off Kijiji when Gar sold his house years ago. His handwritten labels still cling to the old military parts bins in my basement, providing endless inspiration for me to help local musicians achieve their dream guitar tone!
B LE S S E D
KAELEN BELL
PHOTO: JAKE HOLMES & CAMILLA COATES
There are a lot of things to find fault with in 2019 - devastating climate shifts have become a reality more quickly than many expected, right-wing fascism is on the rise, and social tribalism has pushed us further and further away from existing within a collective consciousness. If there’s a band coming up today that can understand the social isolation and anxiety that come with living in 2019, it’s Blessed. The Abbotsfordbased quintet has been performing together since 2015, creating music with a force and precision that feels invigorating and rare. Though he’s reticent to explain the overarching political and personal themes on the band’s forthcoming debut album Salt, guitarist and lead vocalist Drew Riekman says one of the band’s driving forces has always been to leave the stifling conservative environs of their hometown behind. “[Fellow guitarist Reuben Houweling] and I have been playing together since we were 12 and 14, and I think our dream was always to travel,” Riekman says. “I think that’s still a major operating principle for the band - getting to leave the Fraser valley and see all these places.” Riekman tells me about a 2017 article in the Abbotsford News about the conservative backlash to local school resources that helped teachers address issues like sexual orientation and gender identity. “The idea was essentially ‘The LGTBQ are frightening us’, so you can imagine the kind of environment that Abbotsford can be,” he says. “It definitely has a church on every street corner, and [this conservative pressure] is around you in weird ways.”
However, Riekman says that Abbotsford’s generally conservative population has created an insular, eager and self-reliant music scene. It’s a scene that Riekman says can be difficult to break out of, but he credits it with giving him the skills needed to push Blessed beyond the Fraser Valley. “The people that stay and participate in the local scene are some of the most passionate and driven people I know. You have no municipal support, basically no financial support, so it’s up to you and your peers to make it happen,” he says. Creating art in a place where outward conservative ideals push continuously on the small ecosystem of DIY artists has also made Blessed, in the face of their growing success, very aware of what message they’re bringing to the wider world. “I think making concise and direct albums and knowing what’s worth putting into the universe has merit,” Riekman says. “It’s something I struggle with internally, like, do I believe that what I’m saying has worth in the world? Do I need to scream into this void as well?” This emphasis on brevity and careful consideration of what needs saying led the band to its debut’s lean 10 song track list. It’s a refreshing thing to see in 2019 - that in the face of bloated 21 track albums designed to pillage streaming services, bands are still capable of making a carefully considered record. That isn’t to say that every track is a two-minute jolt like first single “Thought”, as some tracks on Salt near the eight-minute mark. Instead, it’s an example of careful editing and an understanding of what a song or album needs. A bit of sprawl can be engag-
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ing when it’s done with purpose. “I heard this term recently - content exhaustion that I really like. People are so pressured to keep pumping things out that it kind of compromises the balance between quantity and quality,” says Riekman. “At the very least what you can do as a creator is hone in and make something you’re particularly proud of.” Riekman says Salt covers ground previously unexplored by the band, stretching their dark post-punk to create a more varied work than fans might expect. “I guess we don’t use what we’ve created in the past as a barometer for what we make in the future, and this record is what we wanted to make and what we felt represented where we’re at,” he says. He says the reaction to the singles released so far has been overwhelming, and that the band is itching to get back on the road following a much needed tour break that ended up stretching to nearly eight months spent at home. “You know, after three years of pretty hard touring, you want some mental space from it, but eight months might have been a little too lengthy. We’re all feeling super grateful that this thing is out.” The drive to see the world is still pushing Blessed beyond the confines of the Fraser Valley, and, with their highly anticipated debut arriving on April 5, there’s little doubt their DIY roots and clear-eyed vision will only send them further and further. “We’ve always operated on the idea that if we can release things we’re proud of, fill half a venue and keep from going broke, we’ll be fulfilled.”
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Space Jam: y e s w e my s t i c WORDS & PHOTOS: ZOË LEBRUN
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Yes We Mystic’s jam space lives in downtown Winnipeg, and is where the band has been practicing, writing, and recording music going on five years. Upon walking into this space, I was overcome with a feeling of positive energy (1). After coming in from the cold outside, the small and cozy space was flooded with natural light and reflected on the vibrant yellows on the multiple collage artworks (2) from their 5th anniversary show, done by artist Urban Ink, arranged around the room, giving the whole room a warm vibe. Davis Plett, guitarist and lead vocalist of the band showed me around the space to some of the band’s favourite pieces they’ve collected over the years. One of these spectacular items was a large surreal image in a frame which was lit from behind while simultaneously producing the sound of a bubbling stream and bird calls (3). While these noises didn’t exactly match the scene being depicted in the picture, which was of three pterodactyls soaring through the air and a
brontosaurus wading in a lake by a waterfall in a sort of Jurassic Park situation, there’s no doubt that its presence contributes to the exciting atmosphere in the room. Another interesting thing about the space was the Doctor Who memorabilia sprinkled throughout the room. This included a string of TARDIS lights (4) framing a tall shelf where the band stores various tools and pedal boxes, and a statue of a Dalek (5) which overlooked the area from the opposite end of the room. It turns out that a good portion of the band are die-hard fans of the show and even have viewing parties to watch it on occasion! Items that reference TV shows, movies, bands, and pop culture in general are always fun and almost comforting to see, because if you’re familiar with them you know that you are in a space where people share common interests and knowledge as you. And of course, one of the most fascinating aspects of any jam space, the musical equipment around the room was quite the sight to see as well. While all of it was awesome, there were a few especially unique pieces that you might not ordinarily see in your average jam space. One of these items was Plett’s first ever keyboard (6) and another was a bucket (7) that usually contains various percussive instruments, both of which have managed to make it into some of the band’s recent tracks! There was also an abundance of pedals around the room, and one of the pedal boards found in the area had a hilarious decoration of an old man’s face (8), which added a lot of character to it. This space, tucked away in a small building by the Good Will, is full of memories for the band and provides a safe and cozy place for them to experiment with, write, and record their music. Not to mention it seems like Yes We Mystic’s jam space reflects their approach to music in general quite well; not only is it quirky and cinematic, but it’s layered and dense in a way that can only be created in one way: by living in and loving a 8 space wholeheartedly over a number of 5 years.
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BEGONIA
SOUL FROM THE HEART
CHRIS BRYSON For Alexa Dirks, Fear is about growth. In the two years since 2017’s excellent Lady in Mind, Dirks and her Begonia project has been gaining steady momentum. In “The Light,” the first single and video released from Begonia’s upcoming debut full-length Fear, Dirks’ lyrical realizations come from transitioning through life experiences and personal growth. The sound — retromeets-modern pop-soul, groove and horn-laden
and catchy as hell — is a bold indication that Begonia is stepping things up. “I feel like I’ve grown so much since I put out that first EP, and I feel like the material definitely shows that growth. It’s pretty diverse,” says Dirks of the songs on the new album and how they tie into each other through her voice and lyrics. Dirks collaborated again with Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg (Royal Canoe) as well as producer/songwriter Marcus Paquin from Montréal on Fear. This collaborative effort helped her put out the record she’s been wanting to make. “That kind of changed things a bit and pushed us into a bit of a different direction as well, which I think was really good for the music,” says Dirks. “It’s really honest and I feel like it’s the next level, like the EP I feel kind of scratched the surface of the kind of music that I wanted to make, and I
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PHOTO: LEEOR WILD listen to this album now and I feel like it’s really what I want to say, how I want to say it. And I’m just really proud of it.” Dirks tends to draw from personal experiences when writing lyrics, and the prevalent emotion throughout the new album, Fear, as it’s aptly titled, touches on the different ways that it affects her life. “This album is definitely more or less about my life and the strongest theme running through it is fear and how I have dealt with it and how to overcome it and how it’s manifested in different ways, in small ways and in large ways,” says Dirks. “It’s kind of how I’ve learned to try to take the things that scare me and allow them to make me stronger rather than let them bring me down.” The public image Dirks has is colourful, authentic, and empowered, which are characteristics that drew her to her favourite artists over the years. “When I was growing up listening to music and connecting with artists it was always those artists that I felt were really speaking their truth, like artists that were not hiding themselves, and not trying to be anyone else,” says Dirks. “That’s the kind of authenticity I’m attracted to. So I want to be as truthful as possible because I want people to be able to connect as well, because that’s why I make music. The true human connection, that’s what has saved me, that’s how music has saved my life in the most cliché way but it’s the truth,” explains Dirks. “It keeps me going so then I want to be a part of the conversation and I want to make that kind of truthful, authentic music as well.” Begonia will be putting out another single from Fear with accompanying video sometime in February, and we’ll all just have to wait until the album release and that hometown show. If Fear is everything Dirks says it is, we’re in for some pleasant surprises.
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Snowdance Festival of Music and Winter BRITT VALCOURT Inside the heart of Manitoba’s Whiteshell Provincial Park lies a charming ski resort. Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes is home to the highly anticipated Snowdance Festival of Music and Winter. This year, Snowdance took place during the brisk third weekend of January. This is a festival that captures the spirit of winter through its appreciation of frosted land and the arts. The incredible community of artists and musicians that create this festival’s identity is what makes it so unique. The intimate and heartfelt musical experiences inside the string lit yurt contrast the crisp winter air waiting for the attendees on the slopes. It is a festival experience incomparable to none. Bracing the winter nightfall, I headed to the Falcon Lake Community Club for Snowdance’s annual “Shinny Shake-up” Hockey Tournament. Shinny is an informal type of ice hockey with no particu-
PHOTOS: BNB STUDIOS lar rules or specific positions. The indoor rink was brimmed with players as the soulful falsetto tones of Ben Hadaller began to echo in the community club. The crowd consisted of those eagerly waiting for their turn on the arena’s ice and those wanting nothing more than to indulge in a charming hot cup of cocoa. “The annual Shinny Shakeup created for a nice dynamic between music and sports, ” Dave Gagnon says. “My team and I kept trying to pull ahead and just kept playing. Luckily for us, that worked out in our favour,” Dave Gagnon noted enthusiastically. His team, Recipe Function came first in this year’s annual Shinny Tournament. The garage surf trio The Garrys came all the way from Saskatoon to hypnotize the crowd with their rhythmic guitar riffs and undeniable charisma.
OLD FASHIONED MOTORCYCLE
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Mountains of the thickest coats and ski-pants scattered the community club as the night ended with the psychedelic band, Heinrichs Maneuver. Chat and laughter fill the air as the dance floor heats up on this chilly winter night. Heinrichs Maneuver’s interwoven tapestry of synchronicity was well received by the Snowdance crowd. As the night came to a close, small swarms of the attendees dawdled back to Falcon Lake Hotel with no intention of sleeping anytime soon. Saturday morning proceeded with a music workshop in the Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes latest architectural addition, The Yurt. The Yurt was created for an intimate musical experience through its combination of natural light and eye-catching stained wood interior. Nestled on the rich land of Treaty 3 Territory, Snowdance acknowledges the traditional territory of the Ojibway and Chippewa people throughout the festival. Outside the ski chalet, various outdoor winter activities begin to take place. Snowboarding, horse skijoring, tubing and ski races are some of the few options guests are invited to partake in! I bundled up to observe snowboarders and skiers alike align themselves in the horse-skijoring line. Horse-skijoring involves a horse barreling along an obstacle-laden track as a racer is being pulled behind them. After enough momentum is gained, they brace themselves for the hill at the end of the track. For the youngest of attendees, The Kids Forest Club puts on a workshop in the wall tent outside of the yurt. The attendees of Snowdance openly embrace the artistic flair of the community by engaging in these surreal winter experiences. The rhythmic running of festival goers overwhelms the tall ski slopes as attendees race around the ski
chalet. The musical talents of Sister haunt the crowd with their beautiful lyricism in the heated yurt, later followed by the likes of the gritty folk ensemble, RailRoad Tye and the cleverly crafted Micah Erenberg. The notably rich music scene in Manitoba is represented here at Snowdance, as attendees nuzzle close to the front of the stage. As the sun began to set on the town of Falcon Lake, the Snowdance legacy has only just begun. Alas, I bundled up one last time to prepare for the closing activity — night tubing. Those who arrived the night before, embrace the evening with open arms as they head down to the Falcon Lake Bar for the musical acts that await them. “Snowdance showcases a diverse array of music,” Jenna Patterson said. “There are acts that made me want to groove and whimsical pieces that spoke to my soul.” The alternative pop trio Veneer set the stage that evening with a multi-instrumental performance. A prized possession of Manitoba, Veneer is known for their melancholy melodies that allure the crowd with their indisputable enchanting rhythm. They were followed by the explosive synth-rock duo, Soda Pony. The sharp energy from the renowned hip-hop band, 3peat amped the crowd for the closing DJ performance afterwards. At the mercy of the music, attendees danced until the morning light. Snowdance’s continued support for local and Canadian acts has been evident since the very beginning. With many of the acts returning, it invites attendees to view their bold transformations from previous years. The morning came quickly and the friendly local deer approach with the morning sun. I warmed my soul with a maple cinnamon bourbon hot toddy, savouring the warm maple elements. Crowds brave the cold and pack the dimly lit ski chalet for the final day of Snowdance. A Sunday Morning Spiritual workshop graciously lulled the guests of Falcon Lake. Ran by Red Moon Road’s Sheena Rattai, the charismatic soulful folk blanketed the crowd
in a chiaroscuro haze. The morning light, made distinct from the opening skylight in the yurt, contributed to the essence of this particularly delicate morning. Outside guests participated in the turkey shoot and cheered heavily for the vintage snowmobile race. The glistening ski slopes are filled with those eager to shred the slopes just one last time and those wanting nothing more but an afternoon walk along the High Lake Trail. The vulnerable writing of the Grey Jays was a perfect fit for this Sunday afternoon. John K. Samson and Christine Fellows closed out the festival with notable lyricists that present modest displays of the human condition with their emotionally delicate story-telling. It was a perfect end to a whimsical weekend. The beauty of Snowdance is attributed to the Christie THE GARRYS and Hamilton family. The real backbone of events like these are the artists, volunteers, and organizers that work behind the scenes. The perfect antidote for your winter blues, Snowdance Festival, embodies the beauty of Manitoba through its diverse display of art and culture.
VENEER
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Mark Mills RYAN HAUGHEY
The last time Mark Mills performed in Winnipeg was in 2015 at a Purple Room pop-up location in the Exchange District. He placed his keyboard on a fold up ironing board and danced his heart out. Mark returned to Winnipeg for Big Fun Festival 2019, this time performing at the Handsome Daughter. Mark Mills, Calgary singer-songwriter, says that folks around his hometown have taken to calling him a one-man-boyband. He mostly performs with only a backing track and nothing other than his voice. “The show is focused on movement and dance, and to be honest just shredding as hard as I can,” he says. “That’s pretty much what it comes down to: pushing my body and voice to the limit, and even my mind.” Mark says it’s taken a lot of practice to be able to stay connected and grounded all by himself onstage. Mark’s performance at Big Fun marked his first time performing at the Handsome Daughter. He says his process of getting ready for a performance starts when he arrives at a venue. “Everywhere I play, the first thing I do is stand in the room and assess where I can take the performance, where I can go,” Mark says. During his last performance in Winnipeg, Mark found himself flying around the room and
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PHOTO: SEBASTIAN BUZZALINO
rolling down a set of stairs, all in the name of dance. “I totally get lost in the experience of performing and it instructs me on what to do. It’s all for that kind of liberation and expression.” Though his performance is a highlight of the Mark Mills experience, his music is nothing to set aside. Infectious synths and 808s drive you to move your body as Mark sings emotional lyrics. Over his last two albums, Mark has been working towards showing a vulnerability through his music. He says his 2016 album 1.6.16 has a lot of heavy content on it, a bit of a change from his usual power-positivity vibe. “Personally, I was really struggling a lot at that time. I had branded myself and created this persona of being hyper positive and that’s how I was transmuting my personal life, and the music was the catharsis and my outlet for what I was experiencing on a personal level,” he says. “Be Okay (Mark’s 2017 album) was a compilation of songs I had written over the past 16 years about death, and about destruction, and about the end. I know it’s all a part of this experience, but then, energetically, I was in a place where I didn’t want to try to flip it, I didn’t want to transmute it, I didn’t want to spin it. I just wanted to take what I was feeling and put it down.”
Mark says that even the recording process for Be Okay was a new experience for him, as it involved more live instrumentation than his earlier work. “It was definitely something that I wanted to go through and that I needed to go through,” he says. At the end of January, Mark released a new EP titled Self Critical Heart Break Songs Vol.1 . “Lately I’ve been healing a lot and working through a lot of ongoing issues on a personal level, and I’ve been cultivating more strength and resilience,” he says. “So this new material is still transitioning, but it’s heading towards a truer version of myself, a truer representation of me.” Mark says the EP will showcase a blend of digital and live instrumentation. He says he’s been exploring sampling and developing himself as a producer. “At the end of the day, as I connect with myself through movement and dance, it’s almost like the music and whatever’s in the background- it’s just a vessel to get myself moving and get the audience moving.” As he reveals himself more through his music, it’s clear that Mark Mills will always be moving his body and, in turn, getting others to move their bodies with him.
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ckuwho?
Classics with John Iverson Listen to: Shades ofSundays 8-10am
WORDS AND PHOTO BY MARGARET BANKA Amidst the Fundrive buzz-filled atmosphere at CKUW, we had a chance to catch up with John Iverson, host and producer of the long-running program Shades of Classics. John shared with us his enthusiasm for the classical and new age genres, filling us in on the origins of his show, the chagrin of his wife, the perks of the job, and also some of his personal highlights over the last two decades. You can tune into his show every Sunday from 8 AM to 10 AM, or check out his website for all things new age: www.jliverson. com/ckuw. Stylus: Tell us about yourself and your show, and what it’s about: John Iverson: The show’s called Shades of Classics. The name came from the fact that I have classical music and I have new age music and I have classical crossover music on my show, so there’s kind of a blend of styles. So when I was trying to think of a name I had a number of ideas, but I finally settled on Shades of Classics. My buddy had a band and I came to drop off one of his CDs at the university and I signed up for one of the workshops. I didn’t really think about it and I got this phone called saying, “are you still interested?” When I took the workshops I found out there was a classical program so I asked Jill Wilson - her dad was doing the show Off the Beaten Track - and I asked her if she could ask her dad if I could sit in with him on one of his shows. After doing the workshops I sat in with him and he asked me if I could sit in for him, so I kind of got my feet wet. That was back in 2000. He told me that I should put in for my own show, and in 2000 I did. Initially it was from 6 to 8 in the morning, which was really tough, not only getting up early but also asking people to come in for interviews or anything like that. I did that for two years until some shows got moved around and I told the program director that if the 8 AM to 10 AM slot came up I’d like to shift over, and I’ve been in that time slot ever since. It’s coming up on 19 years in May. Stylus: So you come in live, you’re not pre-recording your shows? JI: I do mine live, and obviously there are times I can’t come in, like when I’m on vacation or moving, so then I get other people to fill in for me. The last few times its been Ron Robinson. He does a good job. My program motto is heartfelt music at its finest, and I try to bring that out in the music that I play. You’re not going to hear very much modern classical because it doesn’t fit in how I feel about music. I try to make that style of music known to my listeners. My listener base has grown a lot, and they’ve come to expect the types of music and certain things. It’s been a lot of fun. The nicest thing about CKUW is that you are your own programmer and your own host; you can play
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what you want and not play what you don’t want and there’s nobody telling you you’ve gotta play this artist or you’ve gotta play this style of music or you’ve gotta do this. You have your Canadian content that you have to follow, but other than that it leaves you free reign to program your show the way you see fit, and I really like that part. Stylus: Are there any new ideas that you’re thinking of tackling? JI: Well I’m always thinking of different things. I’ve sort of set up a format on my show, except during the summer and the holiday season and that sort of thing, where I go away from my structured show. Each week I have what I call my “Feature Work”: usually a classical piece in its entirety or an album feature from a new album that’s come out, and then a portion of my show is the “Canadian Spotlight”, which is where I feature a Canadian artist: sometimes it’s an interview, or music, or a new album it varies. I’ve done a lot interviews, everyone from musicians to composers to ballet dancers to opera singers. Then I have a feature that I call “From the Garden”, where each week I play a piece from Secret Garden - which is my absolute favorite musical artist of all time.
So I’m thinking of adding other little feature things;I haven’t decided firmly yet but I’ve got ideas swirling in my head. You know I’m not gonna change genres or anything like that, like into pop [chuckles]. I think particularly with classical music there’s still a need for it because there’s not a lot of stations that play it. New age is the most underplayed type of music in Manitoba and Canada and there are so many great new age artists out there, and in particular I want to bring that type of music and make people aware of this type of music and artists that are out there. You talk to people sometimes and you say new age music and they look at you like, what is new age music? Sometimes they know it they just don’t know, so you start saying Loreena McKennitt, Enya, Secret Garden. It’s a genre that needs to brought out to the public more. Stylus: What’s one of your most memorable interviews? Ji: One of the most interesting interviews was when I interviewed the singers known as the Opera Babes. They were in the UK, and I was interviewing both at the same time but they were in two different places so I got one of them on the phone, then I
went to line 2, but then the other one dropped, so I had to get them back. We did manage to get both of them, and that was a lot of fun doing that, just from having them both in different places and bringing everything together. Secret Garden to me is just the ultimate. They’re formed by a Norwegian man named Rolf Løvland - he’s a pianist and he composes all the music - and he’s teamed up with an Irish violinist named Fionnuala Sherry. Late last year I interviewed them, they were in the studio in Norway, and so I got to interview them both at the same time. I’ve interviewed them separately but I hadn’t interviewed them together so that was one of the most rewarding interviews. I’ve met some amazing artists. Through the show
I’ve managed to get into meet-and-greets for a number of people. I got into one when Sarah Brightman got here and got to meet her. George Takei, of Star Trek fame - he was Sulu on the old Star Trek - he came to narrate a sci-fi concert that the WSO did. I got to meet him and get my photo taken. I’ve met so many people. Some I’ve only met through email and phone because they’re in Norway or Ireland or the United States or Eastern Canada. I’ve had a number of firsts on my program, like the first time something has been heard on the radio or over the airwaves, so that’s kind of neat too. My wife always says it’s taking too much of my time. There’s getting the show ready, that takes a number of hours. I don’t want to just grab music and throw it together. I put a lot of thought into it and I want
music that kind of goes and pulls at each other. Stylus: Do you have any plans for CKUW’s FunDrive? Ji: My goal for the Fundrive is always to have some live music. I can’t always manage it, but we’ll see how it goes. There isn’t a lot of room in here for performance. Once I had four members of Camerata Nova - that’s choral ensemble - in there, it was pretty crowded but it worked. Stylus: And do you always wear music inspired wear to the station? JI: Not always, just from time to time. This music rock shirt, there used to be this ensemble called the Musik Baroque Ensemble which no longer is, but I knew the general manager, and she gave me this shirt. One of those perks.
in the Bay Area, Tupac Shakur was able to bridge the gap with “Keep Ya Head Up.” Released in 1993 before Tupac had become a super star, “Keep Ya Head Up” is dedicated to Latasha Harlins, a fifteen year old who was shot and killed in 1991 for allegedly trying to steal a bottle of juice. Tupac turns the tragedy into an ode for black women everywhere, acknowledging the oft-forgotten community with lines like, “Tupac cares if don’t nobody else care.” The Five Stairsteps’ sample in the chorus allows the song a hopefulness in the lines “ooh child, things are going to get easier.” The lyrics that do the most to convey Pac’s message are the last half of the first verse. Tupac’s mother Afeni Shakur, a former member of the Black Panthers, struggled with drug addiction and Tupac’s lyrics declare the significance of women in his life and in the world. Across several lines Pac poses multiple questions, “I wonder why we take from our women/ why we rape our women/ do we hate our women?” The halting delivery Tupac uses in this section, pausing before each instance of the word ‘Women’, drives home the importance of women for Pac while bringing back memories of Melle Mel’s delivery in “The Message”. After asking those questions rhetorically, Pac answers them in turn. He makes it clear that “it’s time to kill for our women/ time to heal our women/ be real to our women.” Pac finishes his first verse in “Keep Ya Head Up” with a shift to men, telling them they have no right to dictate to women when they can have children, “since a man can’t make one/ he has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one.” The prescience of this line is profound considering the the restrictions on women’s reproductive health in recent year in the United States. In a plea to his fellow men, Pac cajoles them, “so will the real men get up?” The song came near the end of the conscious era and Pac would become one of the faces of the new era of gangster rap during the mid to late 1990s. Famously Tupac Shakur would be shot and killed in 1996, a case that has never been solved. In last 25 years there has been an inexorable hiphopification of popular music, culminating in the genre’s ascendance to mass conscious. This has
fortified the strata between mainstream and underground rap. While songs like “The Message” and “Keep Ya Head Up” were popular and game changing within hip-hop, their respective release dates did not allow them the opportunity to reach a mainstream audience. In 2017, a Grammy nominee for Song of the Year changed hip-hop message songs forever by bringing it to the world. In “1-800273-8255,” Logic wrote an incredibly powerful song about suicide and mental health struggles. The title of the song is the actual number for the American National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The centre had a spike in calls as Logic took the song mainstream, even performing on “Ellen”. The verses form a conversation between a caller to the hotline, who is initially suicidal, and the hotline worker who is able to convince the caller to choose life. Logic has been very open about his own struggles with anxiety and depression in his music and in interviews. “1-800” is a vulnerable song, it shows sensitivity, an emotion that is often shunned in rap music in exchange for the hardened street persona. Logic is a pioneer in this respect and more than any other mainstream artist today, he is able to bare his soul in an honest and passionate way. A song like “1-800” doesn’t come around very often and there is no track in recent memory that is comparable. The reach of a particular song or artist can affect whether it becomes an inspirational song for the masses. The spark for this article came from the highly inspirational songs, “Clear Blue Skies” by Juggaknots and “Renee” by Lost Boyz. Both tracks are undeniable classics in underground ‘90s hip-hop but they fail to reach the general level of awareness of classics like “The Message” and “Keep Ya Head Up”. Today, in hip-hop, there are lesser known artists like Big KRIT and Mozzy who consistently put out powerful and inspiring music. The recent shift means popular hip- hop equals popular music, making it is less likely that such powerful messages will filter into the mainstream. Logic’s success with “1-800-273-8255” should help to counter that argument but it is currently the exception to the rule.
NIGEL WEBBER “My journalistic range is a catalyst for change” - Black Thought Music is meant to inspire. The right music and lyrics can deliver a message powerfully in a few minutes. In hip-hop, vocals are the focus, giving rappers an unique opportunity to speak their minds in their songs. Rappers have seized the opportunity. Their lyrics can often be a front line perspective of harsher elements of society. In popular music, lyrics become more vapid and have less meaning. Through the years there have been songs with a wider audience appeal that have had such a powerful message that they are still remembered. Music can be a snapshot, a brief look at the zeitgeist and a window into understanding that era. 2019 will mark the 40th year of hip-hop and rap music as a recorded form of music. “Rapper’s Delight,” rap’s first hit in 1979, starts with gibberish lyrics and for the next few years, rap was dance music for the club. That all changed in 1982 when Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released “The Message.” The song is mostly the work of rapper Grandmaster Melle Mel, who tells the story of a poverty stricken neighbourhood. The character Melle Mel creates is witness to the crime, drugs and lack of opportunity in the inner city neighbourhood he lives in. The song has several classic lines but the chilling chorus, delivered in a stop-start manner, “Don’t push me cause I’m close to the edge/ I’m trying not to lose my head,” are among the most famous lyrics in the genre. After this song came out, President Ronald Reagan visited the South Bronx and said it looked worse than London after World War II. Reagan’s policies, of course, help exacerbate a bad situation into a much worse one. Coming out of such an environment it is no surprise that the character in “The Message” is “close to the edge.” Conscious rap had its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s. KRS-One led the “Stop the Violence” movement that put out the influential posse track “Self Destruction” about violence in the black community. The West Coast All Stars gave a California flavour to the same topic in “We’re All in the Same Gang.” Originally from the East Coast but living
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Local Spotlight making of Dana Lee’s EP, an ambitious first record that is already building anticipation for her next musical output. Derek Loewen Reccomended if you like CKUW’s Barking Dog (Thurs. 2pm-3:30pm) and Twang Trust (Wed. 6pm-8pm)
DANA LEE Dana Lee EP Singer-songwriter Dana Lee’s 2017 self-titled release is a welcoming yet reflective set of songs ranging from sweet and syrupy pop threads to heartache and longing. Calling herself “Lippy, Hippy,” Lee isn’t beating around the bush on her first release as her opening track “Let’s Dance” reveals. Her sensual lyrics mixed with stellar, syncopated drumming and upbeat whistling is the epitome of a summer’s day. Having toured Western Canada extensively with Richard Inman including gigs at Manitoba’s hit festival Harvest Moon, her skills as a live musician have already been boasted. In a Stylus review by Ryan Haughey in April, 2018 he describes Lee’s live sound as “floating bass lines and picked jazz guitar chords”. The sound is well translated in the studio on the rhythmic “Dancing His Paradise” and includes some lighthearted, loving lyrics that will produce a true response from the listener. This EP has a lucid flow with a tone that changes drastically around the midway point with “Medal Pedal Pony”. Lee opens the track with dark sounding guitar chords and chilling, longing opening lines like “these cracking concretes and construction workers wouldn’t miss a thing, like me.” Her moodiness and sincerity resonates on “Night Away” with repeated words “bring me the night away baby” lingering behind pensive strumming. The album closes with “In Between”, a song about love and loss. The stellar vocals remind the listener of Winnipeg folk giants Sweet Alibi. The track hits a similar nerve as a song for cruising down the highway, the singer all the time asking a distant former lover “what drove you away?” The slide guitar sounds straight out of a Tom Petty or Joe Walsh song but with an eerie distance. It’s a testament to the great recording techniques used in the
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HOMEWRECKER Wrecker and Housepanther Homewrecker is a collaborative collection of melancholic songs that tell stories of infidelity. This EP evokes a mix of emotions that altogether imprint the spirit of this music into the mind of the listener. Creating a sinking feeling right from the introduction, Homewrecker builds up from a roll of finger picked acoustic strings with ambient synth wailings until it lurches forward with a grainy electric guitar tone driven by a bass-snare beat. Low tone vocals from Housepanther spill poetic lines of introspective lyrics, remembering a gloomy new year’s eve. On the track titled “Passenger Party” Wrecker counts in a subdued trainsnare beat and a folky guitar pattern, accompanied by a piano sparsely comping the chord progression. Singing some small talk, Wrecker is able to capture an emotional state with only a few words and bewitching music. The break in the drum pattern leaves room for the acoustic guitar to strum out an alluring hook, and then float right back into the beat. Wrecker and Housepanther prove that you don’t need a large or complex instrumentation to create a captivating tune. Maybe the most emotionally moving song on the EP is the most simple in “Whitney”; a sorrowful, lyric driven tune about being the socalled Homewrecker. The collection of songs concludes with a duet between the two artists, who sing another melody that is haunted with agonizing feelings of affection. Listening all the way through Homewrecker is like lying on the floor
next to your bed in the dark- it is alive with heartache and lingering affection. Ryan Haughey TRAMPOLINE Happy Crimes On February 9th, Winnipeg anti-rock band Trampoline will release their latest musical enterprise, Happy Crimes, at the West End Cultural Centre. The album is a full-length rock musical that tells the story of a man who is tired of trying to make himself happy; who wants to be better, but doesn’t know how; who believes there is an imminent apocalypse, internal or otherwise, about to take place. With punchy honesty and imaginative arrangements, Michelle Lecnik, Joey Penner, and Steve Martens follow the man’s journey as he discovers if he can “accept love and allow himself to feast on life’s harvest in spite of its perils.” With bouncy quirkiness, Trampoline take on different genres, drawing from a variety of influences. The elements of musical theatre and rock fuse effortlessly on the track “Don’t You Want Love.” Opening with angular interplay between the guitar and bass and funky percussion fills, Michelle confronts the listener, asking “don’t you want somebody who wants to celebrate / everything you are on any given day?” The song spontaneously transitions to a heavy rock instrumental reminiscent of Weezer, before fading to a chant of the song title, which turns Queen’s “Somebody To Love” on it’s head. The contrast of the three sections gives the song a cinematic quality that is heard throughout the album. Michelle’s provocative vocal delivery - comparable to Patti Smith or Fiona Apple - is tailored to suit the message of each song on Happy Crimes. From the intensity of “Mary Alice” to the sweetness of “Twins on Fire,” she is a singer who employs a wide range of vocal techniques to get her point across with sincerity. Michelle’s hope is “that the listener will resonate with the emotional charges embedded in the songs and, best case scenario, [the music] will awaken feelings that … have been dissociated.” Trampoline will be taking this show on the road with a Canadian tour heading West this Spring and East this coming Fall. Grace Hrabi Recommended if you like The C.A.R.P, Sundays from 6:30pm – 8:00pm.
STEVE BASHAM Speak, Boy, Speak! Steve Basham, a most important player in the Winnipeg arts scene is back and barking with another devilishly innocent record Speak, Boy, Speak! Those familiar with Basham’s “punk party sandwich” band The Girth or his other solo material will be in for a few pleasant, avant-garde surprises on this new release. “Tiny Otter Lumber Slumber” swims out of the gate as a true party tune. It’s written as an ode to those little furry creatures who, in Basham’s words. “sleep on logs… they’re in my thoughts.” Underneath the lyrics are some seasoned guitar riffs and a bassline that will stick around in the listener’s head. Basham wrote and recorded Speak, Boy, Speak! entirely on his own. His comfortability and mastery of instruments can be attributed to the sheer amount of releases Basham already has under his belt. Dating back to the 2008 release Thick, Basham has been delivering quick, spurtive pop installments such as Don’t Swimming (2012), Noodles and Bread (2014) and Tease It, Dangle It, Pull It Through (2018). Seeping through each release is a lightness of heart that speaks to the listener’s inner child. Speak, Boy, Speak! achieves the same aesthetic. Weaving through a dreamy song about sandwich meat (“Luncheon”), and a grunge instrumental humorously entitled “Butt Rock” the album hits from all different angles and holds a lo-fi prowess that reminds the listener of an 80’s R. Steevie Moore tape. “Event Horizon Sorta Thing” closes out the album as a sci-fi dance number. Basham’s imagery of a “a tall glowing being with straight green hair and robes of blue, red and yellow,” participating in a futuristic discussion of the arts is tantalizing and unique. Basham’s no stranger to the arts himself, earning a BFA from the University of Manitoba and participating in several past events at The Edge Gallery. Like his past artistic endeavors, Steve Basham’s Speak, Boy, Speak! is sure to go down as another quirky classic. Derek Loewen Reccomended if you like CKUW’s Department 13 (Mon. 10am-12pm) and S.A.N.E. * Radio (Wed. 8pm-9pm)
Under the Needle it concerns “Rosetta” and “Summer on Mars”, the eponymous title. This album sets without a doubt a new tone in the Dub universe, the mix of styles and themes all come together in a sinfully sumptuous way. Lys Botsula
STAND HIGH PATROL Summer on Mars If you follow European music, you may already be familiar with Stand High Patrol. In the beginning of the 2000s, the musical group decided to launch their sound system. Quickly, they are joined by the singer Pupajim, who would also become the official composer of the group. Stand High Patrol started to establish itself in small bars in French towns such as Rennes. The group then slowly oriented itself into an English Dub sound, style baptized “Dubadub” carried by the voice of Pupajim and a palette of effects; defined as a mix of Dub, Hip Hop, Bass Music, Reggae, with accents of Techno and New Wave. In November 2018, they launched a new album called Summer on Mars in collaboration with the Italian singer Marina P, solidifying years of working together. The album witnesses the strong bond and the will to explore new horizons between the artists. Summer on Mars is inscribed in Dub and Future Soul aesthetics. From the soul voice of Marina P and the Dub harmony results a captivating atmosphere tinged with poetry. Throughout the tracks, the nine songs of the album reveal lyrics dealing with the condition of the individual, his place in society and the universe, his wanderings and his doubts. Marina P also tackles actual topics like the gendered social norms, particularly present in the soft and consistent tempo of “Fragile”. The singer’s words invite us to rethink the human being by adopting a distant look on the systems that govern our societies. Simultaneously, it teaches us to acknowledge our natural environment, this point is particularly underlined in the songs “Atmosphere” and “Spring Rain”. Many critics pointed out the lack of the lead singer’s presence and the lack of Reggae harmony. However, two songs kept a strong Reggae influence in addition to the basic Dub rhythm:
similar to “Marguerite” with the guitar but closer to “J’accuse” in the lyrics. Despite many critics, Damien Saez is still performing, conquering many fans disappointed by politics or the system, his next album should be released in February 2019 with again, no promotion announced. As long as he will be angry at the world, he will be singing, needless to say that he isn’t going to stop anytime soon. Lys Botsula
DAMIEN SAEZ #Humanité Even for someone who knows little about French singer-songwriters, Damien Saez is worth a listen. This polarizing and politically-aware figure is celebrating his 20-year career in 2019. Saez is an artist unlike any other, refusing to conform to our current capitalist society. He hasn’t done any promotion for his tours or albums in years, instead he only posts once about it on social media, knowing that one of his biggest strengths – his fans – will always be present on tours. This new album #Humanité, released in 2018, arrives as the second part of his latest album Le Manifeste, made in the context of a political turning point in 2016. In the rocking #Humanité, the style of the singer is highly visible: crude, political vocabulary, denouncing our society where social media is the target. For instance, the song “P’tite pute” tackles the selfie and the notion of superficial women on YouTube or Instagram. Saez knows where and how to hit upon this actual topic, like the songs “La belle au bois” and “Elle aimait se faire liker” where he debunks the bimbo myth as well, criticizing those willing to do anything for more fame or followers. Between an eastern symphony and an electro sound, the album leaves many disappointed. Numerous fans reproach Damien Saez for having similar songs, sometimes too similar to his previous albums. An example worth mentioning would be “Humanité”, the eponymous song, reminiscent of “Peuple Manifestant” but with an instrumental part that comes across as way more cinematic. The song “J’envoie” is musically
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THE MIDDLE COAST Encore EP On January 4th, The Middle Coast shared a good news/bad news post on social media. The good news was the release of a new EP, titled Encore, which they assure is the “best music we’ve ever made, hands down.” The bad news was that the band was going their separate ways. “The biggest problem is that the three of us are all strong creators,” wrote keyboardist Liam Duncan, explaining that the three musicians were shifting their focus to solo projects. Encore consists of three songs recorded in Vancouver. The new songs lean more to the accessible pop and R&B side of their writing, with a knack for arrangements that build to a climactic ending, superb musicianship, and the common theme of relationship issues, with lyrics that cleverly deviate from the expected or cliche. The opening track “Me Tonight” exemplifies the band’s patiently paced arrangements. From the sparse intro of Dylan’s voice and Liam’s keys, Roman tastefully elaborates on the drum part throughout the song. If one thing stands out as a development from past releases, it’s that all three songs on the EP have extremely catchy hooks, and the chorus of “Me Tonight” may be the most memorable. The band’s signature of balancing polished pop and raw rock n’ roll is displayed in the bright, electronic keyboards and layered harmony vocals that converse with the searing fuzz
guitar in the spectacular Steely Dan tinged solo that concludes the song. On the title track “Encore,” the contrast of funky guitar with atmospheric keyboard pads over a steady drum groove creates the most upbeat song on the EP. Roman sings the lead vocal, and where Dylan’s voice has a confessional quality, Roman’s is exuberant; “Encore” is the song you’re seen unreservedly belting along with in traffic. The closer of the EP is the highlight, the devastating “Making Love in the Dark.” Though the title suggests a provocative slow jam, the sentiment is defeat: “You don’t want to see the face / of the heart that you’re about to break / so we’re making love in the dark.” The track pulls out all the stops: the perfect crescendo of the arrangement, the soulful blend of the vocal harmonies, Roman’s drum feature in the bridge that unleashes the climax of the final chorus, Liam’s ambient keyboard sounds contrasted with Dylan’s rhythmic guitar hooks, all serving the emotional vocal and lyric. One might go so far as to say it’s the best music they’ve ever made, hands down. If you enjoy the EP, unfortunately you won’t be able to see The Middle Coast live until the reunion tour, but you can follow their solo projects: Dylan and Katie MacDonald, LIAM, and Roman Clarke will each be performing sets at this year’s Festival du Voyageur. Jesse Popeski Recommended if you like Gashlycrumb Tinies, Sundays at 9:00 pm on CKUW 95.9 FM.
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JAYWOOD AT THE FORKS FOR BIG FUN BY BNB STUDIOS
95.9 FM CKUW CAMPUS/COMMUNITY RADIO TOP 30 ALBUMS ( January 21-27, 2019) !=LOCAL CONTENT * =CANADIAN CONTENT re=RE-ENTRY TO CHART #
BERNICE AT THE BALLROOM FOR BIG FUN BY BNB STUDIOS
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ARTIST
RECORDING
LABEL
1 ! Proper Operation Life Is Hard Self-Released 2 ! Madeleine Roger Cottonwood Self-Released 3 ! Royal Canoe Waver Paper Bag 4 * Jeremy Dutcher Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa Self-Released 5 * Colin James Miles To Go True North 6 ! Permanent Mistake Video Self-Released 7 ! Christine Fellows Roses On The Vine Vivat Virtute 8 ! KEN Mode Loved New Damage 9 * Basement Revolver Heavy Eyes Sonic Unyon 10 ! Trampoline Happy Crimes Self-Released 11 * Fucked Up Dose Your Dreams Arts & Crafts / Merge 12 ! Satanic Rights Blues Druid Transistor 66 13 * The Dirty Nil Master Volume Dine Alone 14 Deerhunter Why Hasn’t Everything Disappeared? 4AD 15 Thom Yorke Suspiria XL Recordings 16 Red Baraat Sound The People Rhyme & Reason 17 ! Mohair Sweets Tomorrow Boogie Self-Released 18 ! ADiethylamide This Is A Secret Self-Released 19 ! Sebastian Owl The Ties That Bind Self-Released 20 Rich Halley 3 The Literature Pine Eagle 21 * Yes McCan Oui (Tout, Tout, Tout, Toutttte) Make It Rain 22 ! Bartley Knives Lone Goose New Wild 23 The Flesh Eaters I Used To Be Pretty Yep Roc 24 ! The Lytics Float On LHM 25 ! Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen Driving By Candlelight Self-Released 26 This Kind Of Punichment A Beard Of Bees Superior Viaduct 27 Cat Power Wanderer Domino 28 Mattiel Customer Copy Burger 29 * Tim Hecker Konoyo Kranky 30 * Jah Cutta Ladies And Gentlemen... Indica
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Feb / Mar 2019 Stylus Magazine
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BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE