Disclaimer: For transparency’s sake – I know and love members of the band in the below-mentioned show at the Good Will on Dec 16/2023. All opinions expressed in this article are my own and contain potential bias.
Unless you’re really dialed into the local music scene (although, given that you are currently reading Stylus Magazine, this might be a fair assumption!), it would have been easy to miss a pair of records released last year by Vivat Virtute. You might not know the name, but you definitely know its members – Winnipeg indie rock mainstays Christine Fellows and J.S. Fellows.
Any Christmas cheer I conjured this year had long since dissipated by Boxing Day. However, as I found myself standing shoulder to shoulder with a sold-out crowd at the Good Will, eager to enjoy an eggnoggy evening of rootsy rock with Neighbour Andy, there was no room for holiday humbugging.
What is better than immersing yourself in raw, indie, and emotive vocals? Yes, the Prairie Joggers bring a fresh vibe to the music scene. Their new EP, Going Nowhere, released on June 9, 2023, is different from what I usually hear. Each of the songs on this album feels like a journey through moods and emotions.
Stylus Magazine interviewed Kyle Halldorson, the artist and producer behind Winnipeg’s Dr. Rift, about the instruments and inspiration he uses to create music.
If it were possible to audio-capture the coldest brooding glare, the album Hindsight is 50/50 is what it would sound like. Thick with weighty bass notes, menacingly minor overtones, and steeped in echoey resonance, this is the third full-length project by Albertan musician Evan Uschenko in less than two years. However, the latest manifestation of Ghost Woman is no longer a solo undertaking, as Belgian drummer Ille van Dessel has joined him. As shared at the end of last year via Dine Alone Records, Uschenko conveyed that this project “finally captures the true nature of the band” – and its tracks. Whereas the past few releases sound like a foray into 1970s reminiscence, Hindsight is 50/50 forges ahead into new sonic territory.
I attended GentleFest 2023 as a performing musician and received a complimentary ticket. I would be remiss not to mention this bias. Despite that, this review presents a sincere reflection of my experience.
An evening of trans + queer sound art and poetry (October 1 @ aceartinc.)
by maggie astrid clark photos by derek brueckner
As evidenced by September’s so-called “1 Million March 4 Children” and by recent legislation in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, we are living through a time of escalating fascist rhetoric against trans people and related political efforts to strip the most vulnerable of us of access to safe medical and social transitions. Amidst a backdrop of great uncertainty for the future of our communities, it was truly refreshing to attend an evening of Two Spirit, trans, and queer sound art and poetry at aceartinc. (206 Princess St.) on October 1.
The first full-length album by Paige Drobot is a veritable time machine, but not only because of its largely 70s-inspired aesthetic. She definitely took her time on this one, as all of the songs on the project first came into existence many years ago with her band, The Psychics. In fact, all of the songs on The Psychics–except for “Each Another’s Creation”–can be found on the 2016 release Live at the Graffiti Gallery, which was captured on the fourth anniversary of the original band’s formation, bringing us all the way back to 2012.