Nicholas Friesen

  • Whose house? Futuremayor’s house.

    Several hundred years from now and several hundred feet below Portage and Main, Futuremayor sits in the dilapidated laser-pyramid known as City Hall. The mayor’s job has changed plenty over the years. Since humans no longer exist, Futuremayor (who was engineered to rule with an iron claw) watches over the vast wasteland that is Winnipeg through a periscope found at the Brady Road landfill. 

  • Ambrosia Skylab

    Layered yet dense, danceable yet trance-like, haunting yet playful - “Earth and Sky,” the nearly nine-minute opener of Winnipeg electronic musician Ken Trudeau’s new EP is epic. 

  • Slow Leaves

    After a release or two under his proper name, local singer/songwriter Grant Davidson gave himself the Slow Leaves moniker to take things up a notch.

  • Sloan

    A new Sloan disc is usually met with excitement, then puzzlement, then after a few years, enjoyment. 

  • That gum you like is coming back in style

    Spin-offs, prequels and continuations of popular TV shows are hit and miss. Sometimes you get The Jeffersons, Family Matters and Frasier, while other times you get The Ropers, 90210 and The Golden Palace. With half a season of an unwatchable Boy Meets World continuation, this week’s news of a Twin Peaks continuation, a so-bad-it’s-bad Batman prequel (Gotham) and Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul set to disappoint next year, we thought we’d throw a few ideas at the flat screen to see what sticks.

  • Rock me, Joe

    Ten years ago, legendary Boston quartet Pixies reunited for a tour that almost kicked off in Winnipeg. It was something fans thought they’d never see after singer/guitarist Charles Thompson (aka Black Francis/Frank Black) ended the band in ’93. So now that Pixies have been reunited for longer than their first run, when the band (fleshed out by guitarist Joe Santiago, drummer David Lovering and bassist/vocalist Kim Deal) released five important records, toured the world and influenced a generation of kids with the trademark loud/quiet/loud formula, we’ve had to wait for a new LP.

  • Unpopular opinions

    Seven years ago this month I quit drinking. Two years ago I wrote about it for a Uniter blog post, and the gist of it is that I didn’t quit because I was an alcoholic, simply because I didn’t like who I was when I drank. I put down a Lucky (ugh) at a party and said “I’m out” and that was it.

  • Unpopular opinions

    A few weeks ago, my partner and I went on a trip to Minneapolis to see a couple of concerts (the Replacements and the Dandy Warhols, and yes, at both shows we were among the youngest people there by 15 years). We do this trip once or twice a year to see bands that will never come here and purchase Jif peanut butter.

  • Pop pop perfection

    When Winnipeg pop duo We Won the War formed last year, Tyler Del Pino, 27, and Ryan Cheung, 28, had already been making music together for years - they just had to give it a name. The partnership between the Fort Richmond Collegiate grads, both actively working behind the scenes in music production, writing and publishing, quickly turned into something serious, resulting in them placing other projects on the back burner.

  • Rich Aucoin

    You can’t just listen to Rich Aucoin, you have to experience Rich Aucoin. 

  • North Atlantic Explorers

    This whimsical concept album from members of Destroyer and Belle & Sebastian is super atmospheric, lush and beautiful. 

  • The Rural Alberta Advantage

    Bookended by the infectious team of “Our Love…” and “…On the Run,” this third LP finds Nils, Amy and Paul in superfine form. 

  • Caribou

    Man, this thing is a trip. I haven’t ever properly digested a Caribou record before, just the odd free download here and there, so hi. 

  • Dust off your dress

    Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) music director/conductor Alexander Mickelthwate is pretty jazzed about kicking off symphony season in Winnipeg.

  • VAMPIRES

    This one plays at my love of ‘90s noise-pop (think anything Lou Barlow did or Sub Pop released) and comes from local longhairs David Dobbs (vox/guitar) and Matthew Powers (drums).

  • autumn still

    How do you nail down some diversity on a three-song EP without mixing things up musically too much?

  • Sheena Grobb

    It’s a daring move to open a record with an epic - Matt Good’s done it a few times, as has Wilco and LCD Soundsystem. 

  • Unpopular Opinions

    I've been having the same conversation for what seems like forever, but it's only been five years at most.

  • Back to basics

    When I meet Dr. Annette Trimbee, she is barely a month into her new job as the seventh President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. Having spent most of her professional life in the Alberta government as the Deputy Minister (2008-11), her background in finance, health and the environment puts her in a unique position at the UW.

  • New Music Profile - Manitoba Music SongCamp

    This past July, a group of songwriters from different backgrounds descended on a cabin in the Whiteshell for a weekend of creativity and community.

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