May 26, 2022

Winnipeg
19° C, Light rain showers

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • The Star
  • Reader BridgeNEW
  • WFP EventsNEW
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Free Press Community Review
    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • LifestylesNEW
    • All Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photo and Book store
  • More

©2022 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Federal Election
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photo and Book store
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Day Pass
    • Support Faith coverage
    • Support Arts coverage
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
The Free Press
Articles Read
Your Balance +tax
Day Pass Till
Day Pass
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Report an Error
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
    • Staff Biographies
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • Log in
    • Create Account
    • Help
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
    • My Account
    • Manage My Subscription
    • Change Password
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
Log in Create Account Contact Us
Contact Us Manage Subscription
  • Sections
  • Local
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Diversions
    • Environment
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Soccer
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • E-Edition
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Automotive
    • Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
    • Rentals
    • Services
  • Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Manitoba’s Top Employers
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print
    • Ripley's Aquariums
    • The Bay
    • Staples Canada
    • Altitude Sports
    • Nike
    • Tuango
    • Ebay Canada
    • Sport Chek
    • Roots
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe$1.50 for 5 months
Home Arts & Life Arts & Entertainment Music

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

New music

Reviews of this week's CD releases

Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Thursday, Jul. 26, 2018

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later

POP / ROCK

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/7/2018 (1400 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

POP / ROCK

Cowboy Junkies
All That Reckoning (Latent Recordings)

A new Cowboy Junkies record is like a visit from an old friend you haven’t seen in years. Prior to meeting, you worry you’ll no longer have anything in common. A few minutes in, though, your misgivings disappear and it’s like you’ve never been apart.

So it is with the Junkies first studio album of their own songs in six years, an 11-song collection of ruminations on life’s journey and the state of the world. Still comprised of three Timmins siblings — singer Margo, guitarist/songwriter Michael and drummer Peter — with bassist Alan Anton, the moody quartet is here to remind listeners that spare guitars and breathy vocals were haunting audiences long before Lera Lynn captivated viewers in the second season of True Detective.

All That Reckoning is also a broad representation of all the Junkies can do. (Nothing here is quite as spare and heavenly as The Trinity Session — but that was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.) With Anton and Michael producing, the band is a taut, laconic roots-rock (some would say "death country") quartet working through a set of brooding songs whose moods perfectly match the tones of the stories they tell.

The Things We Do to Each Other slowly builds to a swirling crescendo, as Margo sings Michael’s warning about how easy it is for fear to become hate, while other arrangements (Sing Me a Song and All That Reckoning, Pt. 2) allow Michael to channel Neil Young on his electric guitar. On the feral, threatening Nose Before Ear, an electric guitar keens ominously in the background as Peter’s cymbals shimmer, Anton’s bass lopes along and Margo sings of a "landlocked sailor that cried himself to sea." There’s simple beauty, too, in The Possessed, a deceptively breezy ukulele and tambourine tune that closes the album.

★★★★ out of five

Stream these: The Things We Do to Each Other, Wooden Stairs, Nose Before Ear

— John Kendle

 


 

POP / ROCK

Various Artists
The Music of Grand Theft Auto V, Vol. 1: Original Music (Rockstar Games)

Grand Theft Auto V, which was released in the fall of 2013, demolished all expectations of playing in such a highly immersive video game. Gameplay, the design of the city of Los Santos and the story behind the game were not only innovative, they would set the standard for game and sound design that is still being refined by Rockstar Games through expansion packs for online play and missions for mobile devices.

Obviously, gamers enjoyed exploring and interacting with the vast city, but the game’s soundtrack was equally important in setting the mood of the city while also letting visitors tune in to a variety of radio stations while cruising in the latest vehicle they stole. These genre-focused radio shows elevated gameplay with unreleased tracks from artists like Twin Shadow; Tyler, The Creator; and Flying Lotus that reflected the mood of the City of Angels.

Hometown old-school hardcore punk supergroup Off! makes a rare appearance with the high-octane blast, What’s Next? Texas’s Neon Indian deliver the synthy electro-pop gem Change of Coast that’s just as you would expect to hear cruising around a sunny Los Angeles. Age of Consent keeps up that vibe with an arpeggiated ’80s-sounding tune called Colours.

In a time when playlists dictate how most consumers listen to music, this seems like a shrewd move by Rockstar. Not only can they represent the full album as a complete vibe, but individual singles will be picked up on playlists and generate more exposure for the exclusive music on the albums.

Stream these: Old Love/New Love, Nine is God, What’s Next?

— Anthony Augustine

 


 

ROOTS / COUNTRY

Terry Blersh
Play It All Day (Independent)

Every now and then it is refreshing to hear an album by an artist who isn’t trying super hard to make an overconfident statement. Canuck musician/producer Terry Blersh is ostensibly a blues artist and a singer-songwriter, but his second album, the completely great Play It All Day, proves that he has a firm grasp on a wide range of styles.

It’s All Right has a cool New Orleans groove that is led by Gene Hardy’s expert honking sax. A loping reggae beat underpins The Girl Outside My Window and (Maybe) It Ain’t Too Late is driven along nicely by some hot Hammond organ work.

We always like to see a cover song or two on an album, as it gives you an improved sense of where an artist draws their inspiration. Blersh and crew do a wonderful job of slowing down the Elvis Presley-linked, film soundtrack song King Creole and delivering a super silky, authentic Tex-Mex re-imagining of Gordon Lightfoot’s Early Morning Rain.

Blersh also hands over some vocal duties to a few of his talented co-conspirators on a few tracks. It’s All Right, the late night jazz gem Play It All Day and The Girl Outside My Window are all better by a few degrees by the guitarist again sharing the spotlight. Jammin’ II is an instrumental that will please those needing some guitar fire and opening track Treat Me Right is a feel-good shuffle that features Blersh’s unfussy tone and substantial note-bending skills.

At just over half an hour running time, Play It All Day is an album that lives up to it’s title.

★★★1/2 out of five

Stream these: The Girl Outside My Window, Treat Me Right

— Jeff Monk

 


 

JAZZ

Émile Parisien Quintet
Sfumato Live In Marciac (ACT)

French saxophonist Émile Parisien is in the top echelon of European jazz musicians. He was also the artist-in-residence in 2017 at the prestigious annual Marciac Jazz Festival. (Marciac is a commune in southwestern France.)

His band is called Sfumato, which, I learned, is an artistic technique of allowing tones and colours to shade gradually into one another to soften outlines. The quintet has mainly European members, but a somewhat surprising guest on several tracks is trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who vacations in Marciac.

As a young man, Marsalis was reported as skeptical about the authenticity of international jazz influences, and Parisien’s jazz is grounded in French styles and sounds. It has been described as "very French." Whatever the case, Parisien and Marsalis work wonderfully together on the tracks they share, including Transmitting and a funny and cheeky version of Temptation Rag.

Parisien’s compositions are complex and inventive, and his playing is exceptional. The quintet has been together for a long time, and the addition of several guests, including Vincent Pierani on accordion, adds a further French tone. Guitarist Manu Codjia and pianist Joachim Kuhn have amazing solos.

While adventurous, this album is both exciting and accessible. There is always a sense of the unusual in Parisien’s music (a three-part tune is called Le clown tueur de la fête foraine, which translates as "The Killer Clown Of The Funfair"). This is an outstanding release by a great musician.

★★★★1/2 out of five

Stream these: Balladibiza, Temptation Rag

— Keith Black

 


 

CLASSICAL

Clipper Erickson
Tableau Tempest & Tango (Navona Records)

This new release features a handful of solo works performed by prize-winning American pianist Clipper Erickson following his 2015 album, My Cup Runneth Over.

One of the most riveting selections is Russian-American composer David Finko’s Fantasia on a Medieval Russian Theme, inspired by a poem about the oppression of the Russian people. Erickson fearlessly tackles its knotty polyphonic textures while imbuing his interpretation with world-weary resignation. Three more Finko works are offered: Sonata No. 1 infused with Yiddish/Slavic folkloric roots, Sonata No. 2 and a single-movement Sonata No. 3 that offers greater lyricism.

Another highlight is Richard Brodhead’s Una Carta de Buenos Aires that evokes mysterious shards of a dark tango, with Erickson resisting any temptation to rush through its transparent textures rife with pregnant pauses.

The album’s cornerstone — and its oldest piece — is 19th-century composer Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, originally composed for piano before famously being orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. It’s fascinating to hear this famous work alongside the more contemporary offerings. Erickson’s rich palette of tonal colours bring each of the 16 imagistic sections to life, ending on a triumphant note with The Great Gate at Kiev that always quickens the pulse and stirs the soul.

★★★★ out of five

— Holly Harris

 


 

RAP

Future
BEASTMODE 2 (self-release)

Since they slipped by while I was listening to the mushmouth rapper, a quick lyric scan reveals that drugs are indeed still referenced in seven out of nine cuts, and no one on the charts does so more luridly or grimly.

"Codeine, it sit on my kidney and dissolve," is the opening line of Some More.

The Free Press | Newsletter

Winnipeg Gardener

What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. A monthly email from the Free Press with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.

Sign up for Winnipeg Gardener
Sign Up

Yet the grotesquerie quotient for this guy is overall pretty down on the most-streamed mixtape of all time, and the, er, emo levels are up. So, there’s less "molly, molly, percocet" than plaintive melodies warbling reflections such as "Got more guns than a terrorist when I think about it," and "Damn, I hate the real me."

Latter is from the same closer where Future’s mom expresses disappointment and he gets a rousing chorus out of "I’m trying to get high as I can." Someone tell the streamers it’s anything but a drug anthem.

★★★ out of five

Stream this: Some More

— Dan Weiss, Philadelphia Inquirer

If you value coverage of Manitoba’s arts scene, help us do more.
Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism.
BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund
  • The Free Press is certified by

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Top