$10 cover

http://www.waxmannequin.com/

http://www.myspace.com/waxmannequin 

Wax Mannequin is on his fourth record. The first two were quiet bedroom recordings featuring eerie computer melodies and other noises. With his third -- the Price -- Wax brought powerful rock abilities into the studio. It's a record of extreme catchiness, and ridiculous aggression. It is performed with great focus and sincerity. The songs sound like jokes at first, but they are serious. It's kind of an extreme form of joke that pushes through funny and becomes serious all over again -- but serious in a loud, dizzy, brand new way. The dizziness and sincerity capture and communicate the complexities of being a human in interesting times -- the insecurity, the doubt, the triumph and the wisdom gained through experience.

Wax Mannequin's fourth disc -- Orchard and Ire -- is being released now on Infinite Heat. This record does many of the same things as The Price, but this time, as you listen, the music places the white hot sun in your spine. Heavy, dramatic, melody-driven songs like ‘Everything Proper' and ‘Animals Jump' counter pose surreally subdued tunes like ‘Almost Everyone' and ‘Animals Come Home'. Lyrical themes interweave: the absurd becomes profound and the comedic becomes grave as the careful listener is drawn deeper into the ridiculous yet strangely logical poetic and musical mythology that Wax has been weaving since he began. 

He has been touring back and forth in Canada for the past five years. He also brought his shit to Australia. In the beginning he played his classical guitar and gave people cards where they collected points and “super powers” for coming to his shows. But, disturbed by the cultish success of his “system", Wax stripped down the shenanigans, and upped the supreme power by adding heavy machines and an angry electric guitar. Now the roses come out of his skin when he gets excited. They are a problem, and he throws them at the audience, but it hurts and they keep coming back.

So that's pretty much it. If you can deal with that, Wax Mannequin will change your life. If not, you get to eat a blade.

 http://www.myspace.com/nickjohannes

http://www.thekettleblack.com/ 

Kettle Black is an impressive one man experimental/ punk band from Ottawa. His real name is Nick Johannes.

Ever since I was a young child, I`ve dreamed of being a T-shirt salesman. But how to make my dream a reality ? I thought, the best way to do this would be to start a band. We called ourselves "Jack Feels Fine" we practiced; we played; we toured; we made a record; we toured some more; then we broke up. I built a recording studio and recorded other bands for awhile. I recorded "Bystander" a studio project and started "Capital Punishment" an internet record company. "The Askmasters" were looking for a bass player and asked me to join. Once again, we practiced; we played; we recorded an album; then we broke up. In the summer of 2002 "Bystander" went to play the NXNE  music festival in Toronto, but by the summer of 2003 "Bystander" had broken up (and I was the only member) 

  Now I am called "The Kettle Black" and I own the dot com to prove it. I finished my first recording 2004 and I`m playing shows again. I play acoustic and electric guitars, bass and synth/piano, I use samples, a couple of loop stations and a drum machine. Someone said it sounded like Mr.Wrong and Neil Young jamming with Roland (formerly of Big Black) in Roger Waters living room. I don`t know but it sure is nice to be back on the road selling my T-shirts again.