Music
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Big mustache and bowler hat rock
A drunken conversation in a Winnipeg bar got the wheels rolling for Gold Mountain, a new folk-rock-pop band featuring some familiar faces. Jamming officially began in 2011 after vocalist/guitarist Kris Rendina’s old band Talk City opened some shows for guitarist Martin LaFrenière’s technical punk group High Five Drive.
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Jingle bell folk
There are many wonderful Winnipeg Christmas traditions, ranging from decorating the tree to accidentally sliding your car into on-coming traffic. What’s seeming to become a new local holiday tradition is A Country Christmas, returning to the St. James Tap and Table for the second year in a row.
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A mustache miracle
The whole idea of a “new tradition” is a bit of an oxymoron, and it’s rare for any new festive celebration to become a true holiday staple. Somehow, Winnipeg singer-songwriter JP Hoe has done it. His annual JP Hoe Hoe Hoe Holiday Show has been going on for nearly a decade, and it has grown exponentially in scope and popularity since its humble beginnings at the King’s Head Pub.
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City hopping
Mobina Galore left behind B.C.’s largest city for Winnipeg and ended up recording a solid LP that’s largely inspired by our thriving punk scene. The duo, which formed near the end of 2010, recorded its debut EP, Skeletons, in Vancouver - a city at times suitable for partying but not quite as convenient for working on a record.
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Out of the wild
A cabin in Manitoba’s Interlake region lacking both running water and Internet was Kathryn Kerr’s creative space for the genesis of her debut EP. Wood Songs was released this past summer and serves as an introduction to her folk-based solo project that goes under the moniker of astre, (the French word for “star”).
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Homeward Bound
There are few artists who hold the ability to work in a myriad of media while still being humbly productive and keeping their feet grounded. Rae Spoon is one of those few.
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F.P. Tranquilizer & Microdot
I'm not sure why these two local albums, which exist fine on their own, are delivered here on one disc, but it's okay because it's economical and it all really works together.
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What Happened To… The Lo Pub?
In this instalment of "What Happened to..." Brittany Thiessen interviews Jack Jonasson, David Schellenberg and Kelly Ruth about the former Bar / Music Venue / favourite student hangout located down the street from the U of W, The Lo Pub.
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Getting on the map
ATLAAS - and no, we’re not shouting, it’s one of those stylistic things - is one of those bands that comes out of nowhere and manages to immediately distinguish itself. Its debut EP, titled ONE, only features three tracks. Each is totally golden. There’s the ever-versatile Heather Thomas (of Bunny) on vocals and keytar, bouncing between octaves with remarkable style and assertiveness. Then, there’s Ricardo Lopez-Aguilar (of Oldfolks Home) on guitar, drum machine and programming. It’s a bit like Phantogram, except actually enjoyable to listen to.
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Not bad, 15-year-old me
It’s been taking Calgary-born indie musician Samantha Savage Smith longer to write songs lately, which she doesn’t mind. It shouldn’t be easy.
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A chat for Mr. Roberts
Canadian rocker Sam Roberts is very down to earth for someone who has performed in five different countries in the last six months, including Spain and the United Kingdom. He and his band return to Winnipeg for the first time in three years, performing at the historic Burton Cummings Theater on Nov. 19.
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Stream Alfa’s debut album Harmattan
Alfa will release his debut album, Harmattan, on Saturday, November 15 at the West End Cultural Centre. You can stream the album in its entirety below.
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Metal white lies
For an up-and-coming metal band, the loss of a guitar player could be a fatal blow. That’s not the case for Sky Monitor: despite the loss of their lead guitarist Kristjan Tomasson, the metalcore quintet is getting some of their biggest breaks yet.
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Hanging on hold
One of your older sibling’s favourite punk bands is back.
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Started from the bottom
Alan Doyle went from handling cod tongues to fronting Canadian folk-rock legends Great Big Sea, a journey he details in Where I Belong. Doyle has previously written some blogs on the Great Big Sea website, which caught the attention of Random House Canada. The publishing company later suggested he write a book about his life growing up.
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This month in hip hop
There’s been an unfortunate lull in quality rap releases as of late: two of the stronger albums of the year – Common’s Nobody’s Smiling and Cormega’s Mega Philosophy – were both dropped back on July 22. Since then, we’ve really only seen the welcome comeback of Dilated People, the return of the gangsta (with albums from Jeezy and Gucci Mane) and a steady influx of shitty white rappers.
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Growing pains
Any artistic pursuit involves constant focus, effort and sleepless nights spent sweating over whether or not an individual voice will rise up from the heap of work on the floor. Halifax-based artist Mo Kenney reports that the many years using that exact recipe has paid off in the form of her slightly different second album, In My Dreams.
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Christmas with Kozelek
For a casual Mark Kozelek fan, the last two months of his lengthy career have been a bit inexplicable: first, there was the Hopscotch Music Festival incident (he called a noisy crowd “fucking hillbillies” and told them “to shut the fuck up,” later making t-shirts with the quote to commemorate the standoff). Then came the invented beef with Philadelphia band War on Drugs, which culminated in the highly controversial songs “War on Drugs: Suck My Cock” and “Adam Granofsky Blues.”
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So fresh and so clean
An established downtown Winnipeg recording studio is soldiering on, but under a different name and management.
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Autumn years
While Autumn Still only formed last November, members of the pop-rock trio have been kicking around the Winnipeg music scene for quite some time.