By David Nowacki

I first met Nick Liang, the primary singer and songwriter for Winnipeg natives Departures, when he was a temp at HMV a couple of years ago, and the first thing that struck me was how damn savvy he was. I like to think of myself as a fairly well-informed music geek, but man, this guy could geek with the best of them. He had a genuine enthusiasm for all things musical.

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By Taylor Burgess

Photo: Adrienne Huard

Cannon Bros. are Cole Woods and Alannah Walker, who have lived pretty much their whole lives together—they’ve been going to the same schools since grade two and they both played on Oak Park’s water polo team. As Winnipeg scenesters might know, they’re also one half of the band the Playing Cards, a band that has been around since Walker and Woods were in junior high school.

So imagine my joy when I approach them at the Albert after one of their shows, Woods slams down an empty plastic tumbler on a table and says, “Alright, I’m good to go.”

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Editors’ picks for stuff you should see during the 2010 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival.

THE ROOTS

They may be a household name now due to their supporting role on American network late night TV, but the Roots could’ve sold out the Pantages long before they became Jimmy Fallon’s house band. Questlove, Black Thought and company have been reshaping hip hop for 20 years, unapologetically injecting jazz and rock into their mix of rhymes and beats. These genre-busting Philadelphians are unparalleled live instrumentalists—as Late Night fans already know. Given how hard they rock from the sideline, you know we’re in for it when they hit centre stage. (Monday, June 28 @ Pantages Playhouse Theatre, 8 p.m., $64.50)

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT

You know about Martha and her uncommon pedigree—daughter of Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, sister of Rufus. You know about her frank, songwriting and raw vocals. This year at the Jazz Winnipeg Festival, you’ll see another side of this captivating singer. This time, Martha is Edith—Piaf, that is, the legendary French chanteuse. Wainwright recorded Piaf classics for her latest live album, Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, à Paris, and she will recreate those performances for a Winnipeg audience. Opening the show is singer/pianist duo José James and Jef Neve. (Sunday, June 27 @ Pantages Playhouse Theatre, 8 p.m., $41)

ELISAPIE ISAAC

Tri-lingual Elisapie Isaac brings a dazzling and dense range of influences and inspiration to her music. Inuk by birth, she was raised in a northern Quebec Inuit community. She’s been a journalist, a filmmaker and half of the folk duo Taima, but now she’s struck out on her own with a solo record, There Will Be Stars. You’ll have two chances to experience her charming and transporting folk-pop (sung in English, French and Innu) on two occasions during the festival. Don’t miss out. (Sunday, June 27 @ Old Market Square, 7 p.m., free and later @ Aqua Books, 9:30 p.m., $12 adv./$15 door)

DEERHOOF

The record-conscious kids these days agree on just about everything these days—but I guarantee that if you force a group of stubborn people to choose their favourite Deerhoof record, there’s going to be one hell of a knife fight. There’s the absurd Milk Man, which has since been turned into a kids’ play, The Runners Four, their huge double album which is closest they’ll ever come to making pop songs, or the kitchen-sink attitude of Reveille—hell, you could justify any album they’ve made. This San Francisco four-piece has been around for more than 15 years and they’ve released 10 albums that can only be summed up as non-commercial rock and pop. Playing with time signatures, electronics, or harmonies, Deerhoof have done it all—yet they’re still known best for tearing it up onstage as a four-piece band. (Monday, June 28 @ Pyramid Cabaret, 9 p.m., $15 adv./ $18 door)

THINK ABOUT LIFE and BONJAY

The Sunday night show of the Club Series is going to be quite the rowdy time. Think About Life, Canada’s finest sampler-and-synth-based band, is always bursting with energy, and singer Martin Cesar has more than enough personality to spare. A quick listen to the killer-catchy songs “Sweet Sixteen” or “Havin’ My Baby” off their latest album Family should be enough to convince that they’re worth seeing. But if that band isn’t enough to tickle your fancy, there is also Bonjay, an electronic Toronto duo steeped in dancehall and R&B. The duo began simply to play parties, but now they’re a full-fledged project, with thousands of followers and recordings to their name, which play out like an even more chill version of Santigold. (Sunday, June 27 @ Pyramid Cabaret, 10 p.m., $15 adv./$18 door)

KID KOALA PRESENTS THE SLEW LIVE

True, true, there’s an awful lot of novelty wrapped up in the premise of this concert—under the name the Slew, Kid Koala and Dynomite D made the soundtrack to a film using nothing but biting rock albums and their sweet turntable skills, only for the film never to be released. Enter Wolfmother’s rhythm section. They dig the Slew’s music, they start playing together and voila, they’re all taking the show on the road. But despite all those pretenses, if the live show delivers anything close to the record that the Slew released, it’ll be one hell of a blow-you-out-of-the-water experience. Most of the songs are driving, in-your-face, and heavy-hitting like Wolfmother’s rock tracks, but it’ll maintain all of the quirk of Kid Koala that you’d expect—not to mention Kid Koala and Dynomite D dueling on not four turntables, but six. (Thursday, July 1 @ Pyramid Cabaret, 10 p.m., $18 adv./ $20 door)

by David Nowacki

Carey Mercer is a personal hero of mine and he could be yours, too. He is the owner of an idiosyncratic wail and writer of equally unique songs. You might be listening to a Carey Mercer song if you find yourself wondering how a trombone learned how to sing and also how it got so angry, or if you find a palpable feeling of dirt and despair emanating from the words. You can easily pick him out of any musical project he’s ever been involved with. Even in the formative days of his first group Blue Pine, the aural aesthetic distinctly attributable to Carey Mercer has been evident. And since Frog Eyes’ first album, The Bloody Hand, he has taken that sound and with every album honed it and grown and explored the boundaries of what he could do with it—which, in practice, has proved to be fantastic and interesting and weirdly beautiful. Frog Eyes’ latest album, Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph, marks a more majestic, epic sound and a further step forward in the oeuvre of Mercer. He also (very occasionally) blogs, and writes opinion pieces such as one lambasting a gag clause in the contracts of the musicians who played the Olympic closing ceremonies. I tried to contain my fanboyishness as much as possible as I telephoned him in the faraway land of British Columbia.

Stylus: I’ve been noticing the more recent albums, Paul’s Tomb and Tears of the Valedictorian, you’ve been tending towards longer songs. Why do you think this is?
Carey Mercer: That’s not something that we set out to do, but I think it’s an after-effect of a general move to explore space a little bit more. So it’s maybe it’s good to think of, like, songs almost like the super-slow movement of an accordion. So on The Folded Palm, or The Golden River or The Bloody Hand, it’s the same songs, they’re just really condensed. It’s like, if we were to take some of those songs and stretch them out and build up the instrumental parts, which is what we’re doing now, you probably actually would end up with nine-minute songs. Maybe even more. There might be actually a lot more ideas in those early songs, I don’t know. [Laughs.]

Stylus: Do you think of your music a whole, continuing, ongoing piece, or is each album its own insular little world?
CM: I would say that each album is its own insular little world. But when I’m done an album, that’s it with that record, and those songs forever live on that record. And it’s kind of weird sometimes to pluck them out of a record. Say, in a live set, you’ll take a song from The Folded Palm and chuck it in to the middle of all these other songs. I don’t know, there’s something kind of odd—it’s not so odd that we don’t do it, but I always have to re-orient myself once the song is done. That’s the nice thing, also, about playing with different people, is that the song changes so much anyways because someone else is playing the bass line, or someone else has taken the piano line and put it up onto electric guitar.

Stylus: Being a Canadian musician—and it doesn’t really matter if you feel terribly connected to the country itself—you’re going to be sort of labeled as a Canadian Musician, in articles and reviews and that sort of thing- do you actually feel any sort of connection to the country you live in? Do you feel like you are a Canadian Artist?
CM: It’s such a complex question. I was watching the Olympics close, and I just couldn’t understand, I just don’t get it. I don’t even understand what Canada is, you know? Is it health care? Is it Stephen Harper? Is it the sheer geography of the place? But then, it’s so massive. How do you condense that into a single emotion? And this is why I find that kind of like, herd instinct displays of pomp really actually troubling, because it’s this massive outpouring of really, really intense, heartfelt emotion towards essentially meaningless symbols, and when that happens people are put in a place where they can be easily manipulated because they’re feeling so hard, but they don’t even really know what they’re feeling. I feel incredibly connected, in my own life, to where I live. I love it. I love the region that I live in. I mean, Vancouver Island is bigger than Switzerland. So, if you’re from Switzerland, you’re Swiss, and I think in your mind it’s quite easy to sum up what that means. Just as it would be easier for me to say, to talk about Vancouver Island, or you could talk about the Red River area, right? I don’t know anyone who’s from Moncton or Saint John, and I don’t know why if I see someone from Moncton or Saint John or Halifax walking down the street I should put my arm around them, start weeping [laughs], and start singing “O Canada,” you know? It’s a lie. Nationalism is the most pervasive lie, and it’s the one unifying aspect of history. There seems to be at the heart of all of the totalitarian regimes too, Great Mother Russia. Actually, the only thing that really unites Canadian musicians might be something like FACTOR, or SOCAN. That small fact that we are all able to apply on some kind of equal status for some funds. At least there’s that.

Stylus: The Internet: good thing/bad thing? From a musician’s standpoint.
CM: Good and bad. It’s like saying Planet Earth: good or bad?

Stylus: But for you personally, I mean, I know you’ve gotten into the internet culture a bit, you’ve got your blog, which, albeit, isn’t updated too often, but there is that involvement. Has it benefitted you as a musician, do you think? A lot of artists find detriment in the fact that anyone can get their album for free.
CM: I can’t answer that question. Truthfully answering it would necessitate being able to see what the world would be like without the Internet. And actually, when I think about it, probably the most rewarding things that we’ve done with Frog Eyes has been, you know, like we went to Tel Aviv, we went to Moscow, and when we played, kids totally knew our music, and there’s no way that they would have known it without the internet. So, in that sense, it’s good. But in the other sense, it’s really too early to break out the party hats. We need to figure out an economic model that works for the Internet.

Stylus: Do you have any statements about the record you’d like to make?
CM: No. [laughs] Not really. Just, in general, I don’t really like talking about music too much.
Stylus: Your own music, or just music in general?
CM: Music in general. Its beauty is in its mystery. You just can’t. You just lose every time you try to.

By Kaeleigh Ayre

Being a co-executive director of an organization is not something every 20-year-old can put on their resume, but Rayannah Kroeker can. The fourth-year University of Manitoba jazz voice student is an up-and-coming presence in the Winnipeg jazz scene. When she’s not in class or participating in world development conferences, she can often be found performing with the Retro Rhythm Review or Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra. Since 2007 she has been putting her all into presenting Jazz for Humanity—an annual concert with a conscience.

Jazz for Humanity has blossomed into a multi-disciplinary event, but it began with a trip to Rwanda. Kroeker and her classmates were inspired to give back to the community they experienced there. With her friend Katrine Dilay, Kroeker helmed the inaugural Jazz for Humanity concert at Collège St. Boniface in 2007. In the years since, the event has outgrown its location not once, but twice—moving from St. Boniface to Prairie Theatre Exchange, which they sold out in 2009. This year, they’re on the Manitoba Theatre Centre mainstage.

Jazz for Humanity is partnered with Ubuntu Edmonton, a small non-profit organization that helps the widows and orphans of the 1993 Rwandan genocide. All funds raised by the organization through this event go towards helping those that reside within the small community of Kimironko to become self-sufficient. “The benefit of Ubuntu still being so small and mostly unknown is that they require very little overhead costs, and therefore most of the money we raise goes directly into the village,” says Kroeker. This is something that she is very proud of, and something she says doesn’t happen with a lot of the large-scale charities.

The evening is “drastically different than expectations,” Kroeker stresses. “We make a conscious effort to select a wide variety of repertoire. While we focus on world music, we also include elements of R&B as well as rap and hip hop. The audience comes away with a sense that it’s more world music than jazz because they don’t realize jazz sounds like that, that it actually is jazz.”

Unfortunately, she feels there is a stigma that comes with the word “jazz.” “People have an outdated view of the genre,” says Kroeker. “They expect the smooth sound of the ’20s, of dancehalls, Lindy Hop and scatting. They don’t take in to account that there’s been nearly a century of development within the genre, which is why we highly suggest even those that are wary of ‘jazz’ to come out. There is something for everyone to enjoy.”

On top of the fabulous performances to be expected from Kroeker’s sextet comprised of Will Bonness, Curtis Nowosad, Simon Christie, Shannon Kristjanson, Graham Isaak and herself, they are also showcasing several forms of dance. Performing are students from the School of Contemporary Dancers Professional Division, as well as returning guests presenting tango and a dance style from Central Africa. Steve Kirby is among the special guests, as well as other students from the UM music faculty. There will be an art auction and refreshments.

If this line-up alone doesn’t entice music fans, Kroeker hopes the desire to support a cause does. “It’s time to take action and get behind a cause. It’s important to know that all of the money goes straight into Ubuntu. We want to show adults that we care, that we can do things and create change. We’re always watching and evaluating everything around us, including government and business practices. We just ask that people come with an open mind and expecting to have a good time. It’s time to do things differently.”

Jazz for Humanity happens Friday, June 18 at the MTC Mainstage. Visit www.jazzforhumanity.org for ticket info.

By Kent Davies

Local metal marauders Evil Survives perform old school New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) at its purest commanding form. The band was born out of the uninspired revulsion following a Children of “Boredom” gig at which they sold their souls to save metal and destroy the savage purveyors of false metal evermore. Evoking the authoritative metal supremacy of Priest, Maiden and Mercyful Fate they sought conquer the metal world forever. Combining Adrian Riff and Sean Murray’s double dose of fierce frenzied guitar shredding obliteration, the pulse pounding percussion and rhythmic destruction of Derrick the Butcher and Dr. Wiseman Harrisist and Axe ’n’ Smash Warkentin’s devastating Dickenson-like cries, Evil Survives absolutely annihilates everything else. The band’s recent earth-shattering sophomore album Powerkiller is already a metal classic, featuring six ludicrously loud, larger-than-life-and-death tracks and Ed Repka’s finest cover art in years. The album is guaranteed to blow brains out of any denim ’n’ leather listener. Recently Stylus sought an audience with Evil Survives shredmaster Adrian Riff to discuss Powerkiller, cassette tapes and the new resurgence of NWOBHM.

Stylus: Powerkiller… my god. Powerkiller.
Adrian Riff: The new album was recorded in a marathon 16-day session in December. I’d like to think it’s the logical second Evil Survives album. We’re not going to alienate any fans. It’s 25 percent less Iron Maiden, 25 percent more Evil Survives. It’s little more of us finding our own sound but mostly pseudo-plagiarising or paying homage to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate.

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By Kevan Hannah

Between releasing their third album, The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night, embarking on a worldwide tour, and managing Breakglass Studios at home in Montreal, the Besnard Lakes’ Jace Lacek found some time to sit down with Stylus to talk about their record, vinyl superiority and inspirational fever dreams.

Stylus: Your last album received a lot of critical attention and really catapulted you out of obscurity. Did that impact the way you approached album three?
Jace Lacek: It was kind of daunting for me. With the first two records, nobody knew who we were, we weren’t expecting anybody to ever hear the record. So I kind of wanted to approach it the same way. It took about three or four days in the studio for me to actually close my mind off from that and make a record. I kept thinking, “Is this…what are we making? Is it good?” Before, I was always like, “I don’t care.” After about four days of just writing away at it, I got over that. Let’s just close ourselves off and just make the record.

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By Sarah Petz

With a sound that is raw, honest and provocative, you wouldn’t expect that Pip Skid (a.k.a. Patrick Skene) grew up on the mean streets of the small prairie city of Brandon, Manitoba. Skene said growing up in Brandon was, like all small cities, challenging at times, but thinks that he and his other Brandon-raised friends DJ Hunnicutt and mcenroe ended up developing their music simply because of the lack of things to do.

“We also never had other rap groups to look up to in a close sense,” says Skene, “The only place we could see or hear rap was from rare little moments when it would get played on TV or the radio.” With only punk, jazz and metal bands around them, the group played any show they could get, even if it meant playing a 12-year-old’s birthday party.

“I do believe that coming from a place like Manitoba does effect your art. Our winters change your life which in turn influences the music,” says Skene. His latest album, Skid Row, is the first time he’s worked with DJ Kutdown on an entire project. Also collaborating with Magnum K.I., Skene is proud of the record they’ve produced. Continue Reading »

By Kevan Hannah

Musician, songwriter, director, actor, playwright—Toronto’s Bob Wiseman has built a 25 year career upon finding new roles to play, crashing and bleeding into each other to create an art that is uniquely his own. It’s transformed Wiseman’s live performances into an audio-visual spectacle, backing his music with evocative, original films written and directed by the man himself. He was kind enough to spend some time talking to Stylus about his performances, which Winnipeg audiences can experience for themselves at the Ragpickers Theatre this Saturday, May 1.

Stylus: You seem to be constantly spinning as many creative plates as you can. How are things going for you these days?
Bob Wiseman: Pretty good. I wrote a play about my experiences with lawyers and the music business. A lot of that is funny, and I’m mounting that at the Uno Festival in Victoria later in May, and then at several Fringe festivals over the summer, including Winnipeg. And I just was in Europe, over the last six weeks.

Stylus: How did you branch out into writing for theatre?
BW: I’m not sure, there’s a few stories I could tell. But I guess foremost, being from Winnipeg, originally, you move to a bigger place like Toronto and it’s thrilling that there are so many arts, there’s a critical mass of people to make a lot of independent art viable and I like attending a lot of things. So I’ve always been interested in theatre. Specifically, I wrote this play because this theatre festival in Toronto called SummerWorks, and they have a music component. They asked me if I would play a party several months before the festival was going to begin, because they thought I would be one of the music people. But they were kind of charmed with the films that I have that three of them by the end of the night were like, “You know, you should just do this as a play.”

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By Jenny Henkelman

Flowered wallpaper, little-known Catholic observances and wartime longing—things and feelings pretty far removed from most young musicians, including Emily Millard. But Millard, who performs under the name Miss Emily Brown, explores them all on her new album, In Technicolor. It’s a gorgeous album, with warm acoustic and electronic sounds, with Millard’s effortless soprano colouring in her clever but heartful folk songs. Stylus exchanged electronic letters with Millard during her current tour, which stops in Winnipeg on April 19 at Mondragon.

Stylus: You used your grandmother’s wartime diary as inspiration for the songs on this album. What drew you to choosing an artifact and using it for inspiration in this way? Is your songwriting process different when you do it this way?
Miss Emily Brown: I first discovered my grandmother’s journal when I was about fourteen. It was on the bookshelf in a zippered leather case with my grandfather’s Second World War medals and Air Force papers. For years I had thought of researching the details of her journal and writing songs about it, mostly as a way of getting to know the grandmother I never met. Last year I was finally ready to do that. My songwriting process wasn’t so different for the songs on In Technicolor. I really like to write about other peoples’ life experiences. It helps me understand them better. I find that when I write about the lives of others, the songs last longer because I don’t out-grow them like I do with songs based on my own feelings. I love finding pieces of writing or hearing stories and then boiling them down to a few verses of song.

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