Steve Schmolaris's Single Review: Every Second Counts

Not so, say Every Second Counts, who proclaim loudly (and angrily) on their new single Math Ain't Mathing that they are sick of living in such interesting times. And for those who are sick of living in interesting times, the only other option seems to be dying in interesting times. And so, accordingly, Every Second Counts have opted to grease the wheels of their own demise. But this is not some gore fest of exploding guts. No one's eating grenades. Instead, the cuts of the new swords are precise and surgical. Instead of sand, their hourglass is filled with blood, and it counts the seconds away. Every drum thwump, every kick, is like a drip-drip-drip into the warm red pool that builds in the lower bulb. And whether a song is twenty minutes long or two minutes short and sweet, each ends with its listener being slightly older than when it started. • • • To read the rest of this review — and more by Steve Schmolaris — visit his website Bad Gardening Advice . • • • Steve Schmolaris is the founder of the Schmolaris Prize, 'the most prestigious prize in all of Manitoba,' which he first awarded in 1977. Each year, he awards the prize to the best album of the year. He does not have a profession but, having come from money (his father, 'the Millionaire of East Schmelkirk,' left him his fortune when he died in 1977), Steve is a patron of the arts. Inspired by the exquisite detail of a holotype, the collective intelligence of slime mold, the natural world and the suffering inherent within it — and also music (fuck, he loves music!) — Steve has long been writing reviews of Winnipeg artists' songs and albums at his website Bad Gardening Advice, leading to the publication of a book of the same name.