I think I fell in love with winded sometime in 2022. I used to play "Swallowing Hair" and "I know it's Thin" on repeat during my drives from Syracuse, NY, to my job in Ithaca, NY. Mostly rolling hills and farms, and deep green walls of trees and fields, calm scenery. The songs soaked into my veins with their melancholic, grunge-infused, lonely, haunting guitars, and outbursts of crunchy, searing melodic static.

It was great to have a winding conversation with Thrin Vianale, the originator of Winded! What a great soul, awesome music creator, and community organizer! We went deep into grief, music as a healing process, and much more.

Check out their music on Bandcamp or Spotify.

In the interview, we talk about the benefit/competition they're in. To learn more, check out this Global Citizen website HERE.

Matt O'Connor recently started a record label inspired by the need to help trans youth, creating Worry Beads Records' first release, a compilation of 18 different bands called True Names: A Benefit for Trans Youth. We talked about how we can create space to honor and support trans youth, while not only with fundraising, but also through the impact of literature and music. We also talked about literature, the origin of True Names, and learning how to open the self by letting go of control.

Trans Youth Emergency Project Website

True Names: A Benefit for Trans Youth compilation on Bandcamp

Worry Bead Records Instagram

I tracked down David Schellenberg after listening to the new record of his band Tunic, A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung. Listening to the album was an intense experience and a pleasure for me. I liked listening to this record in my car the best, surrounded by the dark tones, the grief and pain in the lyrics, and the absolutely stunning composition of instruments, dragging me into the depths of this loss. The deep bass, the wretched pain in Schellenberg's voice, wails of loss, and a cathartic expression through dissonant sounds and distorted guitars. The album is a gut punch, and it hurts so good.

We talk about the Winnipeg music scene, creating and growing as an artist, composition, communication, pain, and grief.

Tunic - Ordinary Unique Pain (Official Visualizer)

Tunic Instagram

Tunic Website