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May 4th, 2012

Ephemera :: GreyScreen on Thrillogy

Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - The Man, The Myth, The Legend of Zelda
Kevin Stebner is the only guy we know who can fit his gear into a lunchbox. While he wears many hats — Bart Recs / Revolution Winter founder, Stalwart Sons howler and Ghost Throats head stoker — his chiptune project GreyScreen is the focus of this particular feature. Jamming harder on his GameBoys than most can with a Stratocaster, Stebs charges the Nintendo kingdom full steam ahead. On his recent trip to support the new tape Thrillogy, we linked him up with WC’s resident lensman Landon Speers to spotlight some essential tour items.

Jesse Locke
Weird Canada // Texture Magazine
weirdcanada.com // texturemagazine.ca/wordpress

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GreyScreen – No East Or West

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GreyScreen – Deer Into A Noose

(click to enlarge)
Game Boys
Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - Game Boy

As with many chiptuners, having a stock of Game Boys is your bread and butter. That Game Boy Light right there, though… that’s my pride and joy; a Japanese exclusive backlit Game Boy that I managed to track down at the legendary Super Potato in Akihabra. That was a holy grail find for me. Nowadays, we backlight-mod these things so you can rock them in the dark (as is that yellow DMG there), but even with the buzz the Game Boy Light puts out, I’ve got a soft spot for that thing.

Permastruct / Lunchbox
Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - Permastruct + Lunchbox

With the 4×12′s I normally haul around for bands, it’s nice to pack your entire set-up into a single lunchbox. Ride the Via with nothing but a backpack and lunchbox in tow. The Permastruct cases were from NES rentals from Hollywood Video back in Red Deer. Such a bittersweet moment going to that closing-out sale; my favourite video store was closing its doors, but I managed to snag a ton of gems before it did. Permastruct became the title for the first GreyScreen tape.

Power Glove
Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - Power Glove

Got this on the tour. Major gift from a major pal. Any child of the Nintendo generation should know what this, and chances are you wanted one with every fibre of your being. You saw Lucas in The Wizard, and you most certainly wanted to be him. This Power Glove is for the Famicom (Japanese NES) and I’ve only just recently managed to work it into the set and utilize it live. I love the Power Glove… It’s so bad.

Robert Kroetsch Novels
Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - Robert Kroetsch Novels

Keep your enemies close, but keep Alberta closer. The absolute brilliant and hilarious Robert Kroetsch, my favourite writer ever to emerge from Alberta. Studhorse Man in particular. No resounding ovations from the world at large, even with his passing this past year, but to me he is such an inspiration. It speaks more to the attitude of being an artist from Alberta, to simply keep making good things, and hope that some kid discovers it. May his legacy live.

Anti-Nukes Pin
Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - No Nukes Pin

The welcome sign to my hometown reads “Welcome to Red Deer / A Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone.” I’ve always been a strong contender of singing and wearing where you’re from, reflecting your place, your community, your family, your actual culture. In an age of internet world-wide universalism, the notion of regional situation and pride is waning. Since I’ve lost my “HI, I’M FROM RED DEER” pin, this will do as a close second.

Red Apple Arizona Iced Tea
Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - Arizona Ice Tea

Dubbed ‘Zonas by us in the know. Arizona is the only company I have ever written a fan letter to (wherein we received hats for being “super fans”), and subsequently when they discontinued Red Apple in Canada, a complaint letter. Red Apple may be the greatest liquid ever to grace my throat – nectar of the gods – thus, being able to find them while on tour in the East makes the excuse to tour all the greater.

Dead-stock Trading Cards
Ephemera :: Kevin Stebner - Dead-stock Wrastlin' Cards

I found these crazy things while on tour at a wholesale liquor shop in Pittsburgh. The accusation is constantly, be it directed at chiptune or anything else tied to this by-gone era, that what we are doing is simply reveling in nostalgia. But the truth of it is that the late ’80s and early ’90s produced a “popular” culture that was so out there, one so transfixed on youth, in music, fashion, film, adventure, exploding video game technology, and especially a culture so irony-free, one where “radness” was all that was needed, that odd music could make it on TV or prairie-born heroes like the Hitman putting greasy shades on your face was the coolest thing in the world. Is it any wonder that a fascination of that era exists – to partake and respond and produce art and music out of such a rich and insane cultural heritage as that?

October 21st, 2011

New Canadiana :: Various Artists – Dad Jamz

From concept to cassette, Dad Jamz is a gas. This cheeky comp finds the bands of the Bart Records and Revolution Winter clan tackling FM staples of the late ’70s – early ‘80s soft-rock epoch with varying results of ridiculousness. Amidst choice picks from Queen, Kansas, Motörhead and Dire Straits (Slates’ “Walk of Life” is a standout), label flagship Stalwart Sons crowd surf Kiss/Argent’s “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You” with original lyrics across seven guitar-squealing minutes. Gyre Spire and Spindle deserve props for taking on Kim Mitchell’s perpetually unhip anti-drinking anthem “Go For Soda”, while Auld Beak clearly have love for Bruce Cockburn deep down. Polina’s straight-faced Rush cover is a winner, and WC fave Sans AIDS could make even Bachman and Cummings shed a tear.

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Auld Bleak – Lovers in a Dangerous Time

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Sans AIDS – These Eyes

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Polina – Fly by Night

May 11th, 2011

Festivities :: Ghost Throats [Edmonton, May 13-15]

There is an unusually wild Post-Hardcore scene thriving in Alberta. Untamed teenaged beasts running rampant with empty lungs and fists full of camaraderie. A singularity festering within our western abandon. It all culminates in an annual festival aptly named Ghost Throats. Organized by some familiar names within the Weird Canada cosmos (Kevin Stebner (Bart Records), Andrew Benson (Crippled Children), and Cecil Frena (GOBBLE GOBBLE)), the festival veers from the pop pantheon and remains harshly fringe, obliterating audiences with condensed signals of sound and idea.

Date: Friday, May 13th through Sunday, May 15th, 2011.
Location: Alberta Avenue Community Hall (9210 118 Avenue Northwest)
Price: $10 per day or $20 for a 3-day advance pass
All Ages Welcome (!!!)

Friday May 13, 2011

Crippled Children (Edmonton, AB)
Todos Caerán (Edmonton, AB)
Brain Fever (Calgary, AB)
Auld Beak (Saskatoon, SK)
Book of Caverns (Edmonton, AB)
La Maladresse (Levis, QC)

Saturday May 14, 2011

Slowhand (Edmonton, AB)
Coalspur (St Alberta, AB)
Monkey (Calgary, AB)
Flint (Edmonton, AB)
Watcher (Victoria, BC)
Stalwart Sons (Calgary, AB)
White Ribs (Nanaimo, BC)
Damages (Vancouver, BC)

Sunday May 15, 2011

Mahria (Edmonton, AB)
Maus (Edmonton, AB)
GSTS (Abbotsford, BC)
Wolfgoat (Edmonton, AB)
Cope (Edmonton, AB)
Tempest (Vancouver, BC)

January 31st, 2011

New Canadiana :: Auld Beak – 4 Songs

The genre forgery at Bart Records continues to astound. Gripping from the nest that birthed 90s radicalia, Saskatoon’s Auld Beak seamlessly blend their sinusoids into a hurly burly of 90s catch, screaming intimacy, and post-hardcore guitar wizardry. The result is bewildering and addictive, driving you to spend hours hopelessly picking apart their orthogonal streams. Definitely something brewing at Bart Records HQ (see Stalwart Sons). Strange currents indeed!

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Auld Beak – G.B.H.

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Auld Beak – Cat Song

November 25th, 2010

New Canadiana :: Sans AIDS – Loaners

Sans AIDS
Loaners
(Bart Records)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::


From the stoop of Aaron Levin:
Sans AIDS continues to explore the gnarled fringes of our pop continuum, welding their aggro-pop catch into the grey matter lurking behind our ears. Waves of frenetic tremolo glint off the trademark bass drones and sultry tom-snare combos, combing their complex pop sensibilities into prom-worthy anti-glam. Loaners shines with a rusty glare, twisting your aural signals into the deep nostalgia hiding behind every mirror.

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Sans AIDS – Stoop

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Sans AIDS – Goblins

September 15th, 2010

New Canadiana :: Stalwart Sons – Burn Daylights Like Torches

Stalwart Sons
Burn Daylights Like Torches
(Revolution Winter)
Calgary, AB
::web/sounds::


From the burnt prairedom of Aaron Levin:
Strange currents of prairie hard-rock percolate this hooking jaunt through hardcore’s progressive pastures. Don’t let them convince you otherwise: Burn Daylights Like Torches is a phenomenal rock record fit for turntables of all dimensions. They maintain their uncanny can-rock hookery through bails of crushing guitar riffs and agropop vocals, readying your inner 90s-teen for summer streams of melodic bass and jazz drummery. It’s the perfect answer to Halifax and Montreal’s wave of mathrock tompoppery and the only reverberations in this context imbued with Alberta’s pastoral identity. GRIPORBEGRIPPED.

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Stalwart Sons – In Dust

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Stalwart Sons – Canadian Railroad Epitaph

July 28th, 2010

Music :: Gyre Spire & Spindle – Nuggets

Gyre Spire & Spindle
Nuggets
(Bart Records)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::


From the spindly gyrations of James Goddard:
While we’re on the topic of Bart Records, can I mention the tragically short-lived Gyre, Spire & Spindle? Technically savvy and hyper-literate, they’re a fitting realization of the fables their name conjures. The recipe was simple: one folkie turned post-hardcore screamstress, several journey-men Edmonton musicians, and a penchant for pairing words. Simmer in a large, black, cauldron. Serves up one brain-melting five-song cassette. Nuggets is proof that once upon a time there was Gyre, Spire & Spindle. Grip it while it lasts.

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Gyre, Spyre & Spindle – Wishy Washy

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Gyre Spyre & Spindle – Splishy Splashy

July 16th, 2010

Review :: Fuck The Tundra – Grin Diesel

Fuck The Tundra
Grin Diesel
(Bart Records)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::


From the teen steamings of Jesse Locke:
Midway through their final set at the Bart Records showcase for Sled Island 2010, Fuck the Tundra’s hyperactive frontman pushed the crowd back, tucked to his toes and hucked a massive flat ground back flip. That gymnastic feat was impressive enough, yet it was still overshadowed by a pitch-perfect performance of all six songs from their debut cassette, one of this year’s most jaw dropping releases. Throughout Grin Diesel’s succinct 16 minutes, the quartet tears into 31G-style post-hardcore with pulse quickening drum fills, spidery dueling guitars and mathematical change-ups, all peppered with their bizarre sense of humor. Most surprising is the serenely summery yet still mathy instrumental “Eliminator Boat Duel,” an ear-pleasing interlude amidst the chronicles of ridiculous.

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Fuck The Tundra – Gintro

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Fuck The Tundra – Eliminator Boat Duel

June 16th, 2010

Review :: Todos Caerán – Todos Caerán

Todos Caerán
Todos Caerán
(Bart Records)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::


From the mid-90s emo nostalgia of Paul Lawton:
When I randomly checked Todos Caerán a few weeks back, I felt four things. 1) Shame: in not running from something labeled “emo/hardcore.” 2) Confusion: for thinking I had long left my emo/hardcore days once it started getting co-opted by Vans Warped Tour and mall-punks. 3) Nostalgia: the first wave of mid-90′s proto-emo bands in Alberta – a welcome respite from the glut of Fat Records wannabes droning on for many boring hours in half-empty community halls. They came as a reaction to the forms that were readily being co-opted. Moss Icon, Portraits of Past, Frail, Angel Hair were a way out, and though it didn’t last very long, it was really great while it did. 4) Inspiration: the best emo/hardcore bands, like Todos Caerán, inspire. Despite already playing in 100 bands, I want to start another group in this vein. I want to play shows with Todos Caerán, go on awful tours, and soak in the idealism that is at work here. Todos Caerán’s first cassette just gets it so right. I can’t wait to hear more.

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Todos Caerán – Comfort in Chaos

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Todos Caerán – The Futility of Fight of Flight

April 5th, 2010

Review :: North of America – 12345678910

North of America
12345678910
(Bart Records)
Halifax, NS
::web/sounds::


From the North of America fanboydom of Jesse Locke:
Other than the guy from Japan who flew to Montreal for their final farewell show a few months back, Bart Records founder Kevin Stebner is quite likely the biggest North of America fan on the planet. Standing next to Stebs at said gig, I was regaled with anecdotes and factoids regarding the members’ current day-jobs, how he caught them live in Europe and just how stupidly excited he is to have now released a rarities compilation from his all-time favourite band. Along with other comp tracks and the previously unearthed jam “Hot Work,” side A is culled from the same sessions that produced NoA’s swan-song LP Brothers, Sisters (a serious tour de force if you’ve never had the pleasure). From the pulverizing guitar-work and clockwork-calculated percussion of barn burners “Beyonce”, “Hate The Player” and “We Had To Call Your Parents” to the slower tempo heart-on-sleever “I Like Everything This Much” and curious electronic interlude “Let’s Get Glitch,” 12345678910 is veritable Mana for Maritime math-rock devotees. Somebody update the wikipedia

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North of America – Let’s Get Glitch

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North of America – Hate The Player

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North of America – I Like Everything This Much

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