Music

• 

  String theory Violin and cello quartet

  Deborah Remus – March 5, 2014

  In February, instrumental folk music quartet The Fretless released its sophomore self-titled album, the follow-up to its 2012 Western Canadian Music Award/Canadian Folk Music Award-winning debut Waterbound.

• 

  Back to the grind

  Lukas Benjamin Thiessen – February 19, 2014

  Head Hits Concrete is officially back. The Winnipeg grindcore band, which gets its name from the Misfits’ song “Bullet”, plays short compositions that punish your ears and flabbergast your mind.

• 

  Chicken co-op

  Deborah Remus – February 19, 2014

  Since forming in 2006, Vancouver garage rock duo the Pack A.D. has released five records, including January’s Do Not Engage and 2011’s Juno nominated Unpersons.

• 

  Rock out with your ceinture fléchée out

  Deborah Remus – February 13, 2014

  Western Canada’s largest winter festival is only getting bigger. A whopping 130 musical acts will be performing at Festival du Voyageur in 2014. The 45th annual celebration of Franco-Manitoban culture runs from Feb. 14-23 at Voyageur Park and various other sites in Winnipeg.

• 

  A man of the red soil

  Lukas Benjamin Thiessen – February 13, 2014

  A native of Rustico, Prince Edward Island, folk singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant is a passionate representative of Canada’s East Coast, and his forthcoming work Searching for Abegweit: The Songs & Stories of Lennie Gallant demonstrates that affection.

• 

  Deft selector

  Harrison Samphir – February 11, 2014

  If you spoke to 23 year-old Ryan Hemsworth, his humility and composure might fool you into believing he’s just a casual dilettante, a “laptop artist” who makes music simply for his own amusement.

• 

  Sibyl at the Uniter Fiver

  Staff – February 7, 2014

  Sibyl playing "The Tale of the Wandering Aengus" at the Park Theatre.

• 

  Greetings from Winnipeg

  Deborah Remus – February 5, 2014

  Winnipeg folk/roots trio the Crooked Brothers have combined its love of art, music and snail mail to create Postcard, its brand new EP and first release since 2011’s Lawrence, Where’s Your Knife?

• 

  Solitary man

  Deborah Remus – February 5, 2014

  After spending the ‘00s in such established Philadelphia punk bands as Paint It Black and the Loved Ones, Dave Hause has decided to mellow things out a bit with a solo career, and he has no intentions of looking back.

• 

  There’s no time like the present

  Margarita Vailas (Volunteer) – January 29, 2014

  Having recently left a professional career as a teacher, Kevin Roy made a decision, “it’s now or never” to make his lifelong passion his new career. 

• 

  Alone in a crowd

  – January 29, 2014

  The Wilderness of Manitoba hails from Toronto, not the Land of 100,000 Lakes. But even in Canada’s biggest city, one can feel like they’re drowning in loneliness.

• 

  Bigger than Yeezus

  Melanie Dahling – January 29, 2014

  Electric Reel Productions’ Avery Stedman and rapper SMRT are a couple of straight up dudes. They’re the kind of guys you would watch in movies from the late ‘90s and go “I’d like to drink Slurpees with them at the skate park.”

• 

  The afterparty

  Lukas Benjamin Thiessen – January 22, 2014

  The brains behind the long running New Music Festival and its indie-laden component, Pop Nuit, have set the bar high. Royal Canoe’s Matt Shellenberg and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Alexander Mickelthwate, armed with keyboards and baton, deliver a line up that will cause even the most apathetic to suit up, brave the cold and enjoy the experimental pop majesty that awaits.

• 

  Fun in the (lack of) sun

  Melanie Dahling – January 21, 2014

  Hey Winnipeg, it’s time to come out of hibernation mode. 

• 

  Hardcover band

  Jared Story – January 16, 2014

  A few years ago, Winnipeg folk group Sibyl set out performing renditions of Sufjan Stevens and Nathan songs. Although the band soon made the switch to original material, one could argue it’s still a cover band. A hardcover band that is.

• 

  Greek Riots

  Melanie Dahling – January 16, 2014

  After playing together in different bands for years, Jacques Richer and Duncan Murta began collaborating as recently as November 2013 in Greek Riots. The duo has a newness about it that, coupled with the chemistry that comes from an existing friendship, makes for a promising group to check out live.

• 

  Comfortably numb

  Lukas Benjamin Thiessen – January 16, 2014

  “I got back from Cuba this past week,” says Daniel Baron, frontman, guitarist and eldest member of Winnipeg’s Industrial Revolution-inspired folk band FINN. He says the frigidity of this prairie locale satisfies his sense of home.

• 

  What the poets are doing

  Deborah Remus – January 16, 2014

  Despite just forming in February 2013, Winnipeg indie rock quartet Hearing Trees has already played around 14 shows and is in pre-production for its debut EP, which will be produced by Les Jupes frontman and Head in the Sand record label head Michael Petkau Falk.

• 

  Kick in the PANTS

  Deborah Remus – January 16, 2014

  In the spring of 2013, guitarist/vocalist Bill Perehinec, bassist Ryan McPherson and drummer Nyala Ali settled on the name PANTS. Thankfully, they also decided to take the band’s music a little more seriously.

• 

  Making Records

  – January 15, 2014

  As recording technology becomes more accessible, there are many options available to a new artist seeking to get their songs out there.