CKXU Lethbridge Added to I Heart Radio

I Heart Radio is a little project that allows you to get 120+ Channels of free, (mostly) commercial free campus, community and public radio from all over Canada on your computer's media player. Everything you need is here including links to software that allows you to record radio when you're not home or can't listen (even if the station doesn't podcast it).

We're constantly looking for more to add to the mix and today CKXU at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta was added to the list. So if you'd like to skip the whole cable vs. broadcasters fight - and have more good content than you can handle, without commercials, delivered by folks who don't want your money (ok maybe a little at pledge time). Check out I Heart Radio,

I should also add, though I've said this before with very little response, NxEW.ca is happy and proud to support campus, community and public radio. Your station is invited (and encouraged) to have a special correspondent with NxEW so you can let our readers know what is going on with your station.

Many of you send us press releases and sometimes we write something up and sometimes we don't. We get hit with alot of press releases and there is only so much time in the day - so if you'd like to make sure your stuff gets out there (and that everything is spelled properly) give us a shout. (The same basic thing applies to venues, record labels and other related business.)

The Manvils Drop a Heavy Hammer

Saturday night saw the return of The Manvils to the Slice in Lethbridge, AB, bringing along a whole new set of material drawn from their recently released self-titled album. Produced by the illustrious Ryan Dahle (Age of Electric/Limblifter), the eleven-song record clocks in at a trim thirty five minutes, something they were conscious of throughout the recording process. “We didn’t ever think that having almost every song clocking in under three minutes would be a possibility in Manvil world,” recounts guitarist/vocalist Mikey Manville. “It’s exciting to see what we’ve done on the record by really thinking about each aspect of the song.”


“Ryan didn’t ever tell us what to do, he just questioned why we were doing what we were doing,” says bassist Greg Buhr. “It was never him coming in and going, ‘So this is the kind of record I want to make for you’. We would come to a consensus as a group on either shortening or lengthening parts, but he really forced us to carefully consider the structures of the songs,” agrees drummer Jay Koenderman. The group had a busy summer, opening for Bif Naked on a cross-Canada tour, and then returning home to Vancouver to play the main stage of the massive Virgin Festival alongside Sonic Youth, Ben Harper, De La Soul and Metric. “The set blew by so fast,” recalls Koenderman, “the next thing you know, it’s over and we’re like – so now what? Don’t get me wrong, we really love playing shows like this here [the Slice], but when your trying to make a career as a musician and you get handed something like that, it just shows you what is possible.”


Their set was preceded by the amazing slide guitar blues sound of Sandbag Records label-mate Rich Hope, who looked like the ghosts of Buddy Holly and James Dean combined. His heavy guitar work was complemented only by a drummer, but didn’t leave you wanting more, since he added simplified bass grooves in addition to his wicked soloing to keep the bottom end chunking along. The crowd loved it, but Hope had to nearly pull them onto the dance floor because the nearly capacity crowd was stuck in their seats for most of the set. Dirty rockabilly blues from an amazing guitarist to watch for.


The Manvils opened up with some rockers from their new album, including “Strange Disaster”, “Good Luck Club” and “Turpentine”, the latter of which they managed to get actor John Savage (The Deer Hunter) to appear in the video for. They played for well over an hour and showcased how the skills of each individual played make this band such a great sounding unit together. Buhr’s precise and intricate bass lines brought more depth to the songs when seen live, and his harmony vocals added another fantastic layer on top. The super-tight drumming of Koenderman’s beats was the glue, solidly holding together the songs, while also adding some pounding fills, reminiscent of Keith Moon in style, while his thick beard and haircut made me think of John Entwhistle – The Who have certainly influenced him in multiple ways. The songs written by Manville are dynamic and interesting, just like his guitar playing and singing, which was also let loose on a few guitar solos.


Keep your eyes on these guys, as they continue their steady climb upwards. Like AC/DC said – it’s a long way to the top if you want to rock n’ roll. Check below for more info about their video premiere party shows.


THE MANVILS ALBUM + VIDEO PREMIERE FOR THE SINGLE “TURPENTINE” FEAT. JOHN SAVAGE OF THE DEER HUNTER

*VANCOUVER PREMIERE I
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15th @ VENUE (881 Granville St.)
w/ THE BRITISH COLUMBIANS & THE CAPITALS. DOORS 8pm

*TORONTO PREMIERE II
HALLOWEEN MASSACRE - FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30th @ THE HORSESHOE TAVERN (370 Queen St. W)
w/ KC ROBERTS & SCATTERHEART. DOORS 9pm

Sounds of Saskatchewan in the Attic

Mike Spencer, owner of Mike’s Geometrics, a geological surveying firm primarily working for those in the construction industry, loves music. You can tell this by the fact that a significant portion of the space in his office is set aside to host concerts. Not your typical office building. He began by booking “house gig” type shows in March and has now done almost ten since then. This past Sunday saw the Saskatchewan invasion of The Deep Dark Woods and Little Miss Higgins for a night of great blues, roots and folk music in Lethbridge.

The Geomatic Attic isn’t your average music venue, of course, being located in the upstairs of a business. But what it lacks in day to day activity it more than makes up for in its atmosphere and friendliness. Although you can’t just walk up to the door off the street (tickets are sold on an advance sale only basis to those on the venue email list), if you’re interested in the shows happening there, you will be included. “The main focus right now is to book really high quality acts. The average person on the street might not necessarily know the groups, but those who come and listen to the music always walk away going ‘Wow, that was amazing!’” says Spencer. With a different format that works for those who aren’t into the bar scene (shows actually start at 8pm), and most concerts being booked on less popular nights of the week in order to draw acts needing to fill their schedules in, a community has developed around the Geomatic Attic. “Artists who have played here have begun telling their friends in other groups about us, and that’s all we’ve needed to maintain getting good bands in here on a regular basis.” Spencer says their mailing list is over 300 people, and almost all of the shows to date have sold out.

For the amount of time Spencer has invested into this venture, he’s ironically not a musician himself. “I was just always one of those guys trying to keep up with all the good music coming out when I was growing up in the 70’s. In the independent scene now it’s amazing to hear of all the groups that are constantly coming out who are flying under the radar of popular radio.” With very diverse interests, he’s interested in bringing in as many different genres of performers that are suitable for the space. “We want to make it so people have a voice in what groups we do have play here. I try to really talk to people and see what they’re thoughts are, in order that they have some trust in me that even if they don’t know the group that’s coming; they know it’s going to be something special,” says Spencer.

Little Miss Higgins

Something special was indeed on display with the show Sunday, as the charming sounds of Little Miss Higgins started the show off in style. Her style is heavily influenced by the sounds of artists like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, but also more blues and jazz artists like Billie Holiday. “Back in the 90’s my friends were listening to a lot of Nirvana and Pearl Jam and I like that stuff too, but I found it too aggressive. Where are the melodies? So that’s what attracted me to that old blues and jazz,” Higgins remembers. Of course, there wasn’t a great deal of other artists playing in a similar vein to Little Miss Higgins, who worked on her own developing her style of writing and playing. “I had to kind of go-it-alone for awhile there, before I could get out on my own.” Higgins made her way all over Western Canada after high school, attending theatre schools in both Red Deer and Victoria. After putting together a touring play and taking it to Regina, she found herself wondering what to do next after the run ended. “I thought why don’t I just stay here on the prairies, and I love it – I’m a total prairie girl,” tells Higgins. After working on getting into the Regina folk scene and meeting her partner Foy Taylor, they decided to move to the bustling metropolis of Nokomis, Saskatchewan – population 400. “It’s nice and cheap, there’s high-speed internet and telephone, so we can do a lot of work from there. We have a garden and a big old funky house that’s just a great place where we can just be and write music.”

With her 2008 album, Junction City, earning her the award for Outstanding Blues Album at the Western Canadian Music Awards; as well as a Juno nomination for Blues Album of the Year, she’s looking to expand upon her success with an upcoming record to be released spring of 2010. If the set she played Sunday is proof, she’ll be just fine. As a guitarist, Higgins is an inspiration; demonstrating gender makes no difference in picking fast, melodic rockabilly licks with precision. Over great tunes of her own including “Pig Meat Strut” and “Silvertone Swing” she lit her fretboard up, and did the same over a classic Memphis Minnie tune, “Killer Diller”. Foy Taylor did a great job of backing her up and throwing some slick licks in too, while stomping a mic’ed up wooden box to keep a thumping beat going. Top notch effort from a compact combo, which is always nice to see: how just two people can invest enough passion into the songs that really brings them to life.

Ryan Boldt of the Deep Dark Woods

I was once again completely stunned by the Deep Dark Woods, who started their set with the magical “All the Money I Had is Gone”. They create such deeply emotional soundscapes that it makes your whole body tingle. Evoking the most powerful work of groups like Dylan and The Band, but not replicating them, they put their own spin on the genre some may call Americana. They recently also picked up a WCMA award, taking honours for Best Roots Group/Duo Recording for their fantastic 2009 release Winter Hours. Playing a great selection of brand new material as well, their upcoming record should be even stronger than the last. One of their best skills is their talent for letting songs breathe, not rushing through them, but slowly building things and allowing themselves to jam out for certain sections to let the individual talents of each member truly shine; which they did to great effect on “Nancy” and “The Gallows”. Frontman Ryan Boldt’s great writing skills give the band songs with the kind of timeless chord progressions that you want to never end.

All seven of them took to the stage up for a final encore, including Little Miss Higgins hilarious “Bargain Store Panties” before closing things out. To get more info about the Geomatic Attic and the great line-up of bands booked up until years end, visit mikesgeo.ca and click on Geomatic Attic.

Photos by Melissa Genttner.

REVIEWED: White Cowbell Oklahoma @ the Slice

Last Monday I managed to damage my hearing just a little more with White Cowbell Oklahoma invading the Slice for a night of rock n’ roll debauchery.

No Other Way came on strong as the openers, looking and sounding like the offspring of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Their heavy metal tunes are very carefully constructed with lightning swift changes between feels, styles and tempos. An incredible amount of showmanship oozes throughout their stage show, constantly running around the stage with synchronized rock outs and harmonized two-hand tapping guitar solos. Each and every member was extremely talented; especially the perfectly tight drum beats that drove the band steadily during their forty minute set. They swung smoothly from song to song, either segueing without pause or stitching songs together seamlessly; leaving the crowd duly impressed.

Rock music is best enjoyed at extreme volumes and White Cowbell Oklahoma definitely had their amps dialed to 11. In fact, they commenced their set by apparently blowing out an amp which sent them into an extended instrumental jam while the problem was fixed. They then turned up the temperature with an excellent cover of Edgar Winter’s 1973 hit “Frankenstein” and ended the song with the cowbell player pulling a metal grinder out of his back pocket and taking it to his cowbell, shooting sparks all over the room. The grooves that WCO provide are so thick, heavy and fuzzy that you can’t help but just get into it like a fly on shit. More material was featured off of their latest release from earlier this year, Bombardero, including “Piece of the Action” and the odd-time signature riffage of “Keys to the Universe”. Making full use of their three guitarists, “Ground Down” had some monumental three-part guitar harmonies which preceded the opening of a forty of Jagermeister and pouring a shot down the throat of nearly every single audience member. That was followed up by lighting the cowbell on fire and shooting flames from it with a spray bottle of lighter fluid – they do know how to entertain a crowd visually as well as aurally. They closed things out with the awesomely titled “Put the South in Your Mouth”, and sent people home with ears-a-ringing and heads-a-spinning; still a force to be reckoned with now in their tenth year together.

The Neighbours Won't Mind If You Listen To Immaculate Machine

Lethbridge’s first great indie-rock show of the semester started the night before classes did this year, with Immaculate Machine coming down to Henotic last Tuesday and the Square Waves as the opening act.

Warming things up with their synth-heavy sound to a growing crowd, the Square Waves greased everyone’s ears nicely. Jeff King fronts this group and he displayed some fierce energy in doing so, his passionate vocalization captivating many in attendance. According to their website, they were originally conceived as a “Kraftwerk garage band” and that is definitely a fitting descriptor, with thumping beats, piercing electronic keys/samplers and just enough of a rock edge to bring it all together for a solidly enjoyable set.

Kicking off their set with “Don’t Build the Bridge” – the same song that opens their new album, High on Jackson Hill – Immaculate Machine immediately wowed with leader Brooke Gallupe’s vocals being complemented by Brooke Wilken’s stunning high harmonies and a stirring guitar freak-out section. They followed with “Only Love You for Your Car” which they recently released an awesome video for that’s very reminiscent of Mad Max, but with bicycles. Bringing out some older material from 2007’s Fables, “Come on Sea Legs” had the three-part harmonies in full effect and is just an amazingly written song, with chord changes that grab you by the throat and jerk you around. They slowly got a few people actually up and dancing with more new material, including “He’s A Biter” and “Neighbours Won’t Mind”, jamming out the latter extensively with Gallupe showing he can solo just as well as he can write and sing. Getting to the end of their set, they were coached back for a two-song encore, closing the night with “So Cynical” from their 2005 album Ones and Zeros. They head off for a European tour in a couple weeks; so until they return you can check them out at www.immaculatemachine.com to get your fill.

what happened last night? MAMMOTH CAVE FESTIVAL....a review

Promising 15 bands and a rooftop stage, the Mammoth Cave Festival looked like a great place to be on Victoria Day Monday in Lethbridge. Great acts like Endangered Ape, The New Danger Kids, the Secretaries and more were on the bill and the twenty minute set times on two different stage kept things bouncing with one band starting up right after the other had finished. The rooftop didn't happen due to weather concerns (possibly safety ones too), but the strong turnout kept the energy high and it turned into a hell of a party. Read the whole story here...

what happened last night? WOMEN...a show review

Flemish Eye recording artists Women were headlining the show last night at Henotic here in Lethbridge, with Lorrie Matheson and Mark Davis as opening acts. It's been said that Lethbridge turns into a ghost town once school's out, and you could have argued that point based on the lack of crowd in the venue.

Mark Davis started things off with his charmingly simple acoustic songs, but not too simple to bore the listener. Very reminiscent of Neil Young's stripped down songs, his material contained lyrics of love and loss, some heartwarming melodies, and were infectiously hummable. His time as co-leader of roots rockers Old Reliable has served him well with the ability to craft beautifully contemplative tunes that made you feel like sitting on a porch beside a lake would be the best thing you could do with your life. His accompanying band of bass and drums kept things very minimal and gave the songs just what they needed to fully round them out.

Lorrie Matheson served as bassist for the previously mentioned act, and then took up the stage with his own solo acoustic set. Matheson is obviously and extremely talented singer and songwriter, which made his decision to start his set out with an obnoxious amount of feedback that carried on throughout the whole first song even more perplexing. Not surprisingly, more than half the crowd walked out in confusion after yelling at the sound guy to fix it (who had no idea what was going on). Whether he was trying to be ironic or what is still in question to me, but the worst part was that there was a beautiful song hidden beneath it. The rest of his set would have made Ryan Adams jealous, because he pulled from his playbook and one-upped him. "Falling Down Sober" was definitely a stand-out, and his use of a loop station permitted him to stack some great vocal harmonies and interesting guitar lines on top of one another. An amazing set was capped off with him finishing on an acapella number, walking off the stage and leaving the bar. Enigmatically excellent.

Women seemed pretty drained as half the band was falling asleep behind the merch table prior to their set, although this was their 10th show in 10 days, and had driven to Lethbridge all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah last night. Add to that a completely incompetent soundman who was unable to get any vocals into the mix, and you had a frustrated set of Women's jarring, jangle-rock. When everything started feeding back and the soundman kept insisting it wasn't his fault (even though Women had turned off all their amps), you could tell they wanted to get the hell out of there. Said soundman eventually found that he had their monitors completely off the charts, and they finally continued on for their last few songs (albeit still vocal-less). Women truly do have a great sound, noise-rock indeed, but still accessible with nicely melodic guitar parts. Odd time signatures drenched in reverb that feel just challenging enough to keep your ears working, but not too confusing for the uninitiated listener. They'll also be playing the Sled Island Festival this summer up in Calgary, so keep an eye out for them there.

Mother Mother Interview

Hear what frontman Ryan Guldemond and drummer Ali Siadat have to say about touring with Sam Roberts, their SXSW experience, their new member, and the new material they've been working on.

The interview was done before their recent show at Henotic in Lethbridge, AB where Said The Whale opened the night. These youngsters have a great sound and are sure to really take off soon, but need to hone their sound to get to the next level.

Mother Mother blew the roof off the place with their boy/girl/girl vocals cutting through the cacaphony of the pop masterpieces they've created.

Henotic has begun to bring in some serious acts and is revitalizing the Southern Alberta music scene. Hopefully this trend continues...

Read the full interview here