Witchpolice Radio

This episode features an interview with singer-songwriter Kris Rendina, who you may recognize from previous projects like Gold Mountain! 

We talk about his imminent solo full-length, The Moonflower Express (which will be released Feb. 5 at Sidestage), as well as peaks and valleys in songwriting, deciding to come back to music in an uncertain time, and much more.

Need more from Kris? Check out his appearances on the podcast with Gold Mountain: WR104 (Dec. 2014), WR264 (Jan. 2018), and WR498 (June 2020).

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you're probably familiar with my year-end rundowns of my favourite local (and local-adjacent) releases of the year. Usually it's this big, lengthy thing over multiple episodes, but this time I tried to keep it nice and concise.  

Here are just a few of the 2025 releases I really dug last year. Some are full-length albums, some are EPs, one, I guess, is technically a two-song single, and one is even a collection of songs recorded years earlier, but it's all really good stuff.

Of course, I listened to way more local music in 2025, a lot of which is also fantastic, so this is just scratching the surface. Along with songs from each of the releases, you'll hear clips from interviews I did with the artists -- or relevant clips from other interviews -- from 2025 or earlier. 

If you need it in list form, my favourite records (from #1 to however many I did... I think nine?) were:

Propagandhi - At Peace, Rob Crooks - Unhomely, JayWood - Leo Negro, Orelands - Secrets and Select Missions, INGIA - Genesis, Claire Morrison - Where Do You Go At Night?, Scott Nolan - Man on a Wheel, Irvin Miller - Make Room For..., and Uncle Sinner - Everybody Wants to Know How I Die. 

Dig deeper: Propagandhi (episodes #922, 624, 100)/ Greg Soden (988, 620); Rob Crooks (#1013,  968, 916, 853, 773, 657, 527, 346, 285, 189; JayWood (#1007, 824, 708, 589, 308, 255), 
Orelands (#965); INGIA (

Banjo-slingin’ death-song enthusiast Uncle Sinner is back with his first album in five years, the excellent ‘Everybody Wants to Know How I Die’. 

Listen up for a great chat about the record, taking cover photos the old-fashioned way, Manitoba’s influence on musical bleakness (and rebirth), and much more!
Need more Uncle Sinner in your life? Check out episode #483 (May 2020) and episode #600 (June 2021), which is about his Star Thistle side project.

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).

Folk artist Ben Stopfel spent the majority of his musical career here in Winnipeg, before decamping to Nashville a couple of years ago and plying his trade as a songwriter in Music City. 

He’s back home for a show at Public Domain on Dec. 28 (which means this one is time-sensitive and jumped the queue).

Here's our conversation about the two cities, coming back to Winnipeg, the differences between being a songwriter and a performer, and much more.

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in 2025 (and beyond)!

Just over a year ago, folk singer Fernanda appeared on the podcast for the first time. 

We caught up to talk about her newly-released concept album, ‘Deer Trails’, the name change from her previous Julie Fern identity, working with field recordings, experimenting with new genres, and much more!

Need more Fernanda? Check out episode #953 (November 2024).

This episode brought to you by our pals at Devine Shirt Company.

Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! 

As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening.