Nêhiyaw Blues-Rocker Bebe Buckskin on her Favourite Sources for Indigenous Fashion

With her new EP, Asiskiy (Cree for “dirt”), out now,
Metis blues-rocker Bebe Buckskin has fully embraced her reputation
as a show-stopping fashionista. 

Buckskin sat down with us to share some of her favourite sources of inspirational Indigenous fashion; including up-and-coming and established designers, artisans, and jewelry makers. 

By Christine Leonard

Indi City

Fashion is an expression and Indi City wants to be part of how you express yourself. Offering an array of contemporary Indigenous designs made 100 percent by Indigenous hands. 

“We take pride in our ancestral connection to this land. Everything we create is intended to be a mindful acknowledgment to the bloodlines we come from, and the Grandmothers and Grandfathers that made it possible for us to be here to share Indigenous fashion with you.”

“My Blood Memory is Couture. I am the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter.” (INSTAGRAM)

Rezin Babe

Danni Suitaakii is a Calgary-based local Indigiqueer/2S artist & filmmaker. “All her pieces made with love and resistance. Handmade and imperfect,” says Buckskin. (INSTAGRAM)

Moonstone Creation

Calgary’s Moonstone Creation Native Gallery and gift shop is an internationally known gallery for authentic Native art. Owner, traditional artist, designer, and spiritualist, Yvonne Jobin, is Cree First Nations originally from High Prairie, Alberta.

Yvonne’s considerable knowledge of Indigenous culture and spirituality is reflected in her artwork. Whether her work is for traditional use, collectors, museums, or major motion pictures, all of her art reflects a respect for the gift of nature, the land and humankind’s need to live in balance with creation. Yvonne is much in-demand as a seminar leader and is dedicated to preserving and teaching her culture through the arts and with the use of authentic materials of her ancestors. (INSTAGRAM)

Sage Paul 

Sage Paul is an urban Denesuliné tskwe based in Toronto and a member of English River First Nation. She is an award-winning artist and designer and a recognized leader of Indigenous fashion, craft, and textiles. Her work centres family, sovereignty, and resistance for balance. Sage is also Founding Collective Member and Artistic Director of Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto. (INSTAGRAM)

Native Diva Creations

Handmade beaded jewelry and accessories for both men and women. Native Diva Creations makes wearable art with techniques, patterns, and designs in an updated and contemporary way that is wearable for all peoples.

Based in Calgary, Melrene Savoy-Eaglespeaker is a member of Alberta’s Blood Tribe. Melrene was inspired to work for herself after participating in the entrepreneur symposium in Morley, a First Nations settlement within the Stoney Nakoda Nation. Products she makes in her thriving home-based business include Indigenous earrings, necklaces, body jewelry, hats, and jackets. (INSTAGRAM)

Heather Crowshoe Couture 

Heather Crowshoe designs Blackfoot Pikanii Nation Couture. She began professionally designing and creating dresses and overcoats for the Calgary Stampede Indian Princess. Since childhood, she has been immersed in traditional Northern Piikani clothing and textile knowledge of her parents, aunts, and grandmothers. This experience ignited her passion to become a Couturier. Heather and her daughter Karli’s couture, streetwear, and modern regalia designs were inspired by their upbringing. Both were raised by Piikanisinni, the Piikani way of Life. (INSTAGRAM)

Danzig "Sings Elvis" - Album Review

Danzig
Sings Elvis

Elvis died in 1977. That very same year a 22-year-old Glenn Anzalone started a remarkable journey that would see the aspiring singer-songwriter from Lodi, New Jersey morph into one of the most beloved and recognizable characters in American music.

Glenn Danzig has left his mark as the penultimate gothic rock musician and record producer. His eponymous band, Danzig, has become an internationally recognized symbol of hyper-masculinity and old-school bravado, while his horror punk exploits with outfits Samhain and Misfits have secured his spot in rock and roll infamy.

Well into his sixties, it’s only fitting that the golden-throated crooner should pay homage to one of his greatest influencers from the 50s and 60s by crafting an ‘easily listenable’ tribute album.

A more than capable vocalist, long renowned for his deep throaty tones and powerful “Evil Elvis” bellows, Danzig’s baritone treatments alternate between smooth and chunky when emulating the king of fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Embracing his cardigans-and-cats side, Danzig lavishes his tenor tones upon popular and forgotten classics including “Lonely Blue Boy,” “Pocket Full of Rainbows,” and a tiki lounge-worthy “Fever.”

Vacillating between Quaalude piano-sprawlers like “You Are Always on My Mind” and “Loving Arms” and the amphetamine-fuelled rockabilly hoppers “Baby Lets Play House” and “When It Rains It Really Pours,” it’s easy to see how the life of an entertainer can take its toll.

Toss back a shot and get on that redeye, Bubba. You’ve got a show to do.

Best Track: “One Night”

By Christine Leonard

Black Dahlia Murder "Verminous" - Album Review

Black Dahlia Murder
Verminous

A thrilling leap forward from 2017’s Nightbringers, the ninth album from Michigan’s The Black Dahlia Murder is arguably the melodic death metal band’s greatest accomplishment since forming almost two decades ago.

Chiefly recorded in the home studio of guitarist/vocalist Brandon Ellis, who joined up in 2016, Verminous benefits enormously from BDM’s claws-on approach.

The dripping caverns of the gatekeeping title track unleashes an army of orcs that surge forth from their subterranean lair like a scene ripped from Ralph Bakshi’s animated Lord Of The Rings feature. Galloping guitars keep pace as the infestation races along a path studded with crucified skeletons. Suddenly one of the corpses breaks into song. It’s lead vocalist Trevor Strnad! And, he is relentless.

The nigh celebratory mission continues as the face-flaying “Godlessly” tears open a circle pit hell-mouth that is as dramatic as it is gratifying. Military precision, gridline grinds and glorious double-kick machinations? They’ve got all that, but with painterly aspirations.

Medieval tapestry weavers whose hands fly with a modern momentum on cuts like “Removal of the Oaken Stake,” “The Leather Apron’s Scorn” and “The Wereworm’s Feast,” BDM isn’t afraid to throw itself headlong through a stained-glass window. Forgive them, Father.

Best track: “The Wereworm’s Feast”

By Christine Leonard

Marlaena Moore Confronts Her Imposter Syndrome Head-On

The Edmonton songwriter cautions to be present and pay attention to what’s going on around you.

BY CHRISTINE LEONARD

Imposter syndrome isn’t just a buzzword for being uncomfortable in a particular job or role, or even your own skin. Edmonton-based singer-songwriter Marlaena Moore has recently contended with that slippery intellectual slope and talks about her struggles embracing personal confidence despite having numerous accolades and two solid LPs, Beginner (2014) and Gaze (2016), to her credit.

“The past year has been marvelous. Everything got completely flipped upside-down in my life for the best possible outcome. After Gaze was released, and after I toured that record, I fell into a little bit of a slump creatively and life-wise, as well. I felt a little stuck,” says Moore. ”Eventually, I realized I was having some mental health issues. After getting diagnosed with BPD, dealing with it and confronting myself a little bit, I realized I needed to start writing again.”

Setting aside time in the early morning hours to practice her craft, Moore connected with her creative spirit and rekindled her passion for weaving poetic pop-rock tales that leave an indelible impression on all who encounter them. It wasn’t long before the potent emotions she had been fermenting were ready to distill for public consumption and Moore approached trusted collaborators, grant-writer/manager Jesse Northey and musician/engineer Chris Dadge, for guidance in making her vision a reality.

I said, ‘This might sound kinda wild, but I’d really like Chad VanGaalen to produce the record.’ It took a little bit of convincing but we managed to get him into the studio and he was very generous with his space and his time. He was really involved as a producer, so I felt really lucky to get to borrow his brain for my songs!”

As Moore puts it, the resulting album, Pay Attention, Be Amazed, “flourished,” displaying her ever-evolving style as a guitar-wielding romance novelist and autobiographical graffiti artist rolled into one. It’s hard to imagine there’s any deception or shortcomings to be had among the immaculate melodies, swooning vocals and deeply cut love letters she inhabits in the nine painterly tracks that stretch from “I Miss You” to “Tiger Water.”

“If you listen to the whole record you’ll hear the voice of someone who feels they’re really lacking in a relationship like they are the ones not pulling their weight. The song ‘Imposter’ is about feeling as if people don’t really know the true you is the dark version and that’s the only version that is real. That song is an imposter itself: it has jangly guitar, an upbeat tempo, and a bright L.A. pop-groove sound, but it’s about a relationship completely falling apart,” Moore says.

“The thing that kept coming up with Pay Attention, Be Amazed is that something could be coming and it might not look like you expect it to. Be present and pay attention to what’s going on around you. In those moments, you can feel this clear, lucid high where you see everything for what it is. It’s beautiful and interesting and you can start pulling things apart and looking underneath. Look close enough to see the signs. Maybe everything is not as it seems when you’re going through darker times.”

Marlaena Moore’s Pay Attention, Be Amazed is available now. 

Moaning "Uneasy Laughter" - Album Review

Moaning
Uneasy Laughter

Dim the lights, crank the synths, shelve your inhibitions and prepare to fall in love with Moaning, and then lose them. It’s a classic pop song plot, but this story has legs.

Warmed by a collective chorus, the chilly opening cut “Ego” delivers thicc beats laced with disaffected vocals and intuitive nonchalance. Out-of-pocket and off-the-cuff, Morrissey-esque vocals preach against The Creator while pitting artistic narcissism against emotional empathy. 

Confronting the mod stranger in the mirror, Moaning veers into bluish baritone hues before parting the curtains of silence with a nervous gasp on “The Stranger.” Overwrought by the restless amphetamine momentum of “Running,” reflexive tempos and tentative truths lead the L.A.-based trio to draw their own conclusions on the future-drone drama “Connect the Dots” and twitchy “Coincidence or Fate.” 

Pretense blows away like clouds chased across the mountaintops on “Fall In Love” as the lush reverb of “What Separates Us” and silky smooth complexion of “Saving Face” wipe clean any remaining points of contact.

Channeling the Parlophone purity of The Pet Shop Boys, Moaning makes their own sound bed using immaculate high-thread-count linens and the downiest of fillers. The art of psychic repose never sounded more chic.

Best Track: “Ego”

By Christine Leonard

Iron Tusk "Iron Tusk III: Dreameaters" - Album Review

Iron Tusk
Iron Tusk III: Dreameaters

A double-barreled blast of unfettered prairie punk, the latest from these Siksika shredders touches down with the force of a trailer park tornado. Tearing a hole in the ozone, primary cut “Cloudeater” emerges from a dense fog of menacing reverberations with ill intent.

A spooky psychedelic tale that buzzes with old-school distortion, this devourer of smoke brandishes a blazing torch for the ghostly figure that haunted the band’s second LP, Dark Spirit. No lightweight contenders, they would give Alberta’s notorious grizzly #122 pause, landing blow after vision-blurring blow with ease.

Turning the other cheek with “Dreaming City,” the black leather-clad crew hits the b-side by running amok in an urban wilderness of their own making. Considered one of Alberta’s worst-kept secrets, the foursome proves to be surprisingly agile as they absorb and reflect heavily horrible influences like Motörhead and Forbidden Dimension. The second track’s fiery vocals scorch the Earth in anticipation of a magnetic storm full of percussive thunder.

Solidified by the grounding presence of recently conscripted guitar vet Craig Bear Chief, Iron Tusk is equipped to reach further and higher in leaving their claw mark on the Canadian music scene. Howling at the moon is only a mic check.

Best Track: “Dreaming City”

By Christine Leonard

Neck of the Woods "The Annex of Fire" - Album Review

Neck of the Woods
The Annex of Ire
Pelagic Records

The newest dispatch from thorny Vancouver metal arbour Neck of the Woods finds its rhythm method in midst of madness.

Six years into their licks, the progressive outfit’s impressive arch of ascent from a two-song demo in 2013, to the unveiling of their eponymous EP in 2015, to producing the sawblade hum of their 2017 debut LP, The Passenger, is incontestable.

Chromatic technical prowess gleams on “Ambivalence,” while the myopic soul-seeking of “Vision Loser'' levels the landscape like an atomic blast. Jeff Radomsky’s voice rises above the fray of “Strange Consolation” before he finds solace in the guitar wire spires that pierce the celestial vault on “The Tower.”

Built on a slicker-than-wet-asphalt foundation, thanks to the ministrations of Rain City Recorder producer/engineer Jesse Gander, the entire album hangs together with palpable cohesion and clarity of purpose.

From the door-kick introduction provided by the title track it’s apparent that Neck of the Woods aren’t giving up any ground when it comes to the gritty gains they’ve made.

Executing an exhaustive survey of how to stage a multi-genre metal war without sacrificing substance, Neck of the Woods finds room to roam within the untidy confines of The Annex of Ire.

Best Track: “The Tower”

By Christine Leonard