Renny Wilson

Reports of chillwave's death have been greatly exaggerated. Though it may feel like the summer of 2009 was eons ago, strains of dream-drunk, nostalgia-driven hypnagogic pop music still survive, though perhaps on a more subcutaneous level. Just in the past few weeks, we've heard it linger in the tubular lushness of Ducktails' The Flower Lane and chime throughout new Youth Lagoon single "Dropla". Even glo-fi OG Toro Y Moi, who just released his fourth LP Anything In Return, seems unable to resist the allure of beat-minded, laid back vibes, despite how grown-up his music sounds today. And it's with Chaz Bundick that we come to Renny Wilson, an Edmonton, Alberta, musician formerly known as Sugarglider, who has now released his pastel-colored debut titled after that discarded moniker. Chock full of gummy basslines, tony sax hooks, and spaced-out disco nods, Sugarglider feels like the soundtrack to a slideshow of some faded, pimply prom photos. So while the sounds Wilson clings to so dearly are mutating and cross-breeding into shapes nearly unrecognizable, he's happy to do as his forbearers did, and look to the past for inspiration. In other words, this is your father's chillwave.
You have to kind of hand it to Wilson, as the guy doesn't pull any punches. Aside from a very slight krautrock-y detour (the title track) and a few nods to proto-chillwave godhead Ariel Pink ("Bound to Lose"), Sugarglider is one continuous, mirrorball-powered jam, as tracks bleed into one another with such ease, there's little distinction as to where one ends and the other begins. Almost everything here is fed on a foolproof diet of boogie-nutrient food groups, meant to shake hips slowly: The aforementioned smooth sax licks, nods to Chic and Arthur Russell, bleary synths, and delayed vocals, all tightly orbiting around careful but unctuous rhythms. In other words, it's the perfect soundtrack to your next key party or couples skate, despite the fact that you can practically see Wilson orchestrating the whole thing from his bedroom. There's more than just a whiff of irony in this music, but Wilson takes it seriously-- lyrically, he's frequently lost in love, forlorn and a little desperate, no matter how groove-laden the tunes may be.
But Wilson's music is very much about context it's being enjoyed in, which can often be a drawback. Like his LA-based backyard disco contemporaries Poolside, you're probably not going to, as Pitchfork's Jordan Sargent mentioned, have much use for the record "unless of course, you have plans to lie by the water for a few hours." Or in the case of Sugarglider, play spin the bottle in someone's basement in 1980. This doesn't make it any less enjoyable, but it does shorten it's potential reach. A quick scan of Wilson's Bandcamp page will reveal a lengthy list of names that inspired Sugarglider, from Al Green to Gary Numan to "The Fuckin' Beatles." Had Wilson made good on incorporating some of these influences, and in turn varied his sound a bit more, he very well may have produced a more accommodating first effort.
Still, Sugarglider's real trouble is how repetitive it sounds. Wilson's no doubt stumbled upon a formula that really works, yet it's accompanied by the nagging problem of how far he can stretch it. The record's best song, "Who Was I?"-- its clanging bells anchored by a hypnotic, definable melodic hook-- is also only the second track on the album, and it's pretty much all you need to know about Sugarglider in a tidy three minutes and 30 seconds. The rest of the time is spent recycling the same ideas by occasionally tweaking the tempo (usually to lesser effect-- most of these songs work better the more movement-minded they are).
One of the biggest complaints about chillwave was how near-sighted it seemed: Too reliant on aesthetic, too one-note, too concerned with the past. Unfortunately, Wilson hasn't done much here to remedy that kind of thinking. At the same time, he's made a fairly enjoyable album, which in 2013 is more than you could expect from someone taking a hardline stance with the format. So while there isn't aything new going on here, it's safe to say that you can go ahead and keep those "Boro Y Moi" jokes in your pocket for a little while longer. - Pitchfork

Reports of chillwave's death have been greatly exaggerated. Though it may feel like the summer of 2009 was eons ago, strains of dream-drunk, nostalgia-driven hypnagogic pop music still survive, though perhaps on a more subcutaneous level. Just in the past few weeks, we've heard it linger in the tubular lushness of Ducktails' The Flower Lane and chime throughout new Youth Lagoon single "Dropla". Even glo-fi OG Toro Y Moi, who just released his fourth LP Anything In Return, seems unable to resist the allure of beat-minded, laid back vibes, despite how grown-up his music sounds today. And it's with Chaz Bundick that we come to Renny Wilson, an Edmonton, Alberta, musician formerly known as Sugarglider, who has now released his pastel-colored debut titled after that discarded moniker. Chock full of gummy basslines, tony sax hooks, and spaced-out disco nods, Sugarglider feels like the soundtrack to a slideshow of some faded, pimply prom photos. So while the sounds Wilson clings to so dearly are mutating and cross-breeding into shapes nearly unrecognizable, he's happy to do as his forbearers did, and look to the past for inspiration. In other words, this is your father's chillwave.
You have to kind of hand it to Wilson, as the guy doesn't pull any punches. Aside from a very slight krautrock-y detour (the title track) and a few nods to proto-chillwave godhead Ariel Pink ("Bound to Lose"), Sugarglider is one continuous, mirrorball-powered jam, as tracks bleed into one another with such ease, there's little distinction as to where one ends and the other begins. Almost everything here is fed on a foolproof diet of boogie-nutrient food groups, meant to shake hips slowly: The aforementioned smooth sax licks, nods to Chic and Arthur Russell, bleary synths, and delayed vocals, all tightly orbiting around careful but unctuous rhythms. In other words, it's the perfect soundtrack to your next key party or couples skate, despite the fact that you can practically see Wilson orchestrating the whole thing from his bedroom. There's more than just a whiff of irony in this music, but Wilson takes it seriously-- lyrically, he's frequently lost in love, forlorn and a little desperate, no matter how groove-laden the tunes may be.
But Wilson's music is very much about context it's being enjoyed in, which can often be a drawback. Like his LA-based backyard disco contemporaries Poolside, you're probably not going to, as Pitchfork's Jordan Sargent mentioned, have much use for the record "unless of course, you have plans to lie by the water for a few hours." Or in the case of Sugarglider, play spin the bottle in someone's basement in 1980. This doesn't make it any less enjoyable, but it does shorten it's potential reach. A quick scan of Wilson's Bandcamp page will reveal a lengthy list of names that inspired Sugarglider, from Al Green to Gary Numan to "The Fuckin' Beatles." Had Wilson made good on incorporating some of these influences, and in turn varied his sound a bit more, he very well may have produced a more accommodating first effort.
Still, Sugarglider's real trouble is how repetitive it sounds. Wilson's no doubt stumbled upon a formula that really works, yet it's accompanied by the nagging problem of how far he can stretch it. The record's best song, "Who Was I?"-- its clanging bells anchored by a hypnotic, definable melodic hook-- is also only the second track on the album, and it's pretty much all you need to know about Sugarglider in a tidy three minutes and 30 seconds. The rest of the time is spent recycling the same ideas by occasionally tweaking the tempo (usually to lesser effect-- most of these songs work better the more movement-minded they are).
One of the biggest complaints about chillwave was how near-sighted it seemed: Too reliant on aesthetic, too one-note, too concerned with the past. Unfortunately, Wilson hasn't done much here to remedy that kind of thinking. At the same time, he's made a fairly enjoyable album, which in 2013 is more than you could expect from someone taking a hardline stance with the format. So while there isn't aything new going on here, it's safe to say that you can go ahead and keep those "Boro Y Moi" jokes in your pocket for a little while longer. - Pitchfork

Disco's influence comes in and out of fashion now on a bi-annual basis. I'm not sure where it currently rests, but Edmonton, AB's Renny Wilson is destined to ensure it has another good run. The former teenage punk spent the last few years struggling to find his sound, settling for what he felt would be a record of straight pop music. However, after discovering the music of Arthur Russell and Donna Summer's Giorgio Moroder years, he found himself taking a detour. Sugarglider was originally intended as a throwaway record, a stopgap, cassette-only release preceding a proper album. But after a strong response, Wilson chose to sign with Mint and give it an official release. It was a wise decision on his part, because Sugarglider is a revelatory listen that exposes a genuine talent who's managed to excel at effortlessly nailing a distinct sound. Wilson's throwback curiosity is a large part of Sugarglider's charm — everything from the hokey album cover of Wilson and his ex to the soft-focus production suggests this is a work from a previous era, but in a retroist mindset, à la Ariel Pink or the DFA label. But disco isn't his only muse. It's good to know that Wilson's able to exercise his options, which he does on the flipside, expanding his repertoire, flirting with Krautrock pulsations on the title track, synth-based folk on "Mope Opera" and even chillwave on the windswept "Lady Pain." Sugarglider is a pleasant surprise and a great way to kick off 2013. - Exclaim

Disco's influence comes in and out of fashion now on a bi-annual basis. I'm not sure where it currently rests, but Edmonton, AB's Renny Wilson is destined to ensure it has another good run. The former teenage punk spent the last few years struggling to find his sound, settling for what he felt would be a record of straight pop music. However, after discovering the music of Arthur Russell and Donna Summer's Giorgio Moroder years, he found himself taking a detour. Sugarglider was originally intended as a throwaway record, a stopgap, cassette-only release preceding a proper album. But after a strong response, Wilson chose to sign with Mint and give it an official release. It was a wise decision on his part, because Sugarglider is a revelatory listen that exposes a genuine talent who's managed to excel at effortlessly nailing a distinct sound. Wilson's throwback curiosity is a large part of Sugarglider's charm — everything from the hokey album cover of Wilson and his ex to the soft-focus production suggests this is a work from a previous era, but in a retroist mindset, à la Ariel Pink or the DFA label. But disco isn't his only muse. It's good to know that Wilson's able to exercise his options, which he does on the flipside, expanding his repertoire, flirting with Krautrock pulsations on the title track, synth-based folk on "Mope Opera" and even chillwave on the windswept "Lady Pain." Sugarglider is a pleasant surprise and a great way to kick off 2013. - Exclaim

Don’t be fooled by what you’ve heard: Renny Wilson’s newly-Minted Sugarglider is much more than Vaseline-filtered disco daze. Sure, you feel the smoothness, the drip, the ecstasy; the hand-plucked basslines tickle your dancin’ regions. But there is so, so much more goodness here. From the opening sax whisper to the quaint Canterburian exeunt, Wilson slip n slides between primal Euro synth, art project lounge lizards and into the glimmery dancefloor stars twinkling with sequin-ensconced mirror singers. He’s a young man going it alone, splitting subatomic particles of inspirations, conquests and rejections of the dance floor doyenne. Thrown through the druggy, sweaty nebula of the somnolent House that Jack built, you won’t feel nothing, and you’ll feel all things that are good. Grip now, and try spinning this on 45 rpm for a whole new exxxperience. - Weird Canada

Don’t be fooled by what you’ve heard: Renny Wilson’s newly-Minted Sugarglider is much more than Vaseline-filtered disco daze. Sure, you feel the smoothness, the drip, the ecstasy; the hand-plucked basslines tickle your dancin’ regions. But there is so, so much more goodness here. From the opening sax whisper to the quaint Canterburian exeunt, Wilson slip n slides between primal Euro synth, art project lounge lizards and into the glimmery dancefloor stars twinkling with sequin-ensconced mirror singers. He’s a young man going it alone, splitting subatomic particles of inspirations, conquests and rejections of the dance floor doyenne. Thrown through the druggy, sweaty nebula of the somnolent House that Jack built, you won’t feel nothing, and you’ll feel all things that are good. Grip now, and try spinning this on 45 rpm for a whole new exxxperience. - Weird Canada

Making pop music is not easy; it’s an artful process that relies on the perfect union of right brain and left brain to make a great song. But often times, pop music is written pop as just that: another dumb pop song. But Canadian-born Renny Wilson has a different approach to pop. This young crooner hails from the same town as Mac DeMarco and Sean Nicholas Savage and plays with a similar sexual innocence and vigor. He just dropped his debut album, Sugarglider (Mint Records), so I decided to talk to Renny about lyrics, women, love, and Taylor Swift.

This is your debut record as a solo artist. How do you feel?
It’s a long time coming. I used to have a garage band called the Subatomics and this band called the Horses, which was a collaborative project that developed into just being a solo thing. So, you could say that what I am doing now is remnant of the Horses.

What is Sugarglider about?
Well, it’s corny, but the record is about struggling to make a record. There are few love related songs in there, but the rest of the songs are about how I couldn’t make a full record of love songs. Because, that was my initial plan: to make a great “love” record.

More specifically, it’s about needless procrastination. It pokes fun at how inhibited an artist gets when they are trying to make something they think is perfect—which is just laziness that’s filtered through emotions—and how precocious one thinks their art is.

That’s the mantra of our generation.
Exactly. I don’t know if [Sugarglider] comes off that way, but when I was writing it, I said to myself, “Man, I’m so upset with myself for not being able to write what I want. I’m so useless. I’m not an artist. I’m a procrastinator. I’ll be dead before I know it... cry, cry, cry.”

Relax, Drama Queen.
My next thought was how ridiculous I sounded. Then, that I should write songs about what a slog I am, but lightheartedly. I was writing from a paradoxical perspective. It came out easily.

There has been a resurgence of the pop-crooner solo man from your hometown of Edmonton, Alberta—you, Sean Savage, and Mac DeMarco. Why does Edmonton breed romantic men?
I’m not sure, actually. I can say that both Mac and Sean have had an influence on me. Maybe it’s because pop isn’t a cool thing to have a scene for—at least, not in Edmonton. I can’t imagine it being “cool” in the same way a punk scene is cool, and so if you want to do pop music, you don’t have to follow the waves of a scene. Edmonton is like a really big small town. Just artistic solitude, really. If you are doing pop, this is a good place, maybe?

How do you write lyrics? Are they important to you?
I’m not a lyric-centric person most of the time. I feel like the flow and cadence is the most important part, so as long as it sounds musical, really...

That’s funny, because I have had lots of my friends who are pop writers say that.
We’re all the same. I’m not surprised, really.

Do you have favorite records for your emotions? Like depression, extreme happiness, or being horny?
I always loved Betty Harris’ Soul Perfection Plus. Almost all her songs are about failed love, but I would hardly call it depressing. I don’t know what music makes me horny. All that sexual 80s reggae, but it’s more just hilarious. Sometimes, when I hear sentimental radio hits, like a slow ballad, I get sexual urges.

Speaking of sexual urges, are you gay or straight?
[Laughs] I’m straight.

Did you start writing pop songs to get the ladies or did you have purer motives?
Totally pure motives. I’m, for the most part, afraid of women on a romantic level.

Why?
I love women and to socialize with them and it’s not to say that I haven’t had girlfriends over the years, but sometimes when a girl is flirting with me at a show, I get uncomfortable and attempt retreat. I’m a total exhibitionist [on stage], but I’m hardly promiscuous. The idea of a nude beach is cool to me, but an orgy is, like, “What the fuck”?

[Laughs] What do you think of Taylor Swift? She’s been a hot topic on Noisey lately.
She looks exactly like a girl I used to be in love with, but I can’t name one of her songs.

When you see T. Swift does it bring up weird feelings?
Not at all. I don’t really think about Taylor Swift. I actually have another album in the pocket, not recorded. It’s called Goddess Fear and it’s partially about the Taylor Swift girl.

Goddess Fear is a great title. What was the break-up from the Swift look-a-like like?
Well, it’s a perfect reflection of what I said earlier about women. I really liked the idea of this girl, but as soon as I realized I liked her, it was a no-go. I often referred to her as “the Goddess” to my friends who didn't know her. She’s a friend of mine. There have never been hard feelings. Her name is Jenelle. You can publish that if you want. She is just one of the many goddesses in the godessphere. One of many, Goddess Fear. - VICE

The first person Renny Wilson thanks on his BandCamp page, after his fans, is Arthur Russell. The late cellist, singer, and composer had a wonderfully varied discography, as 2008's folk-leaning Love Is Overtaking Me demonstrated. But Wilson's January 22 debut on Mint Records, Sugarglider, suavely adheres to Russell's underwater-disco inclinations. Opening with gaudy saxophones and ornamented with Chic-informed bass lines, the Edmonton artist's upcoming album is synth-soaked, falsetto-filled, and dream-like. In other words, it ought to appeal to fans not only of Russell, but also of recent records by Toro y Moi, El Perro Del Mar, and even Caribou. Though the retro-photo album art — not to mention one song's interpolation of a tune by fellow Canadian comer Mac Demarco — might suggest arch irony, what you'll find instead are sweet melodies and flowing grooves. Sugarglider, get it? - SPIN

Having made it through the Decade of Irony–aka the 2000s–it’s nice to return to a place where music is made and genres are mined not for some tongue-in-cheek humor, but because the person behind it is really, really excited about what they’re doing.

Take Renny Wilson: The Edmonton, Alberta musician rocks double-denim, plays nu-soft disco jams, and poses topless–’70s Playgirl-style–in his press photos (OK, that last one might be a little bit ironic).


It’s the sort of thing that could come off as really sarcastic, but listen to enough of his tracks and you’ll realize that Wilson just wants to start a dance party, and the best way to do that is definitely by melding Hall & Oates with Donna Summer. His new album, Sugarglider (out January 22 on Mint Records), definitely does that–but to tide you over through the weekend, we’ve got the exclusive premiere and download of “Nobody.” Get out of your 2000s mentality and prepare for some very un-ironic boogieing. –REBECCA WILLA DAVIS - NYLON

Records to look forward to in the coming months

01-22 Renny Wilson: Sugarglider [Mint] - Pitchfork

If my sex section was at all successful in convincing questioning chicks to touch some boobies, Renny Wilson is going to undo all that and have them craving a whiff of male pheromones inhaled by burying their face deep into his body hair. Even if that man hair is all sweaty from being locked up all day in a Canadian Tuxedo, as Renny is especially fond of wearing (when he puts a shirt on, that is). He actually is Canadian, hailing from Edmonton, Alberta. I'm not sure if that makes the all denim more or less acceptable but whatever, he pulls it off.

Renny describes his debut album Sugarglider as "A film starring Hall & Oates set on a cruise ship with Donna Summer playing the woman of interest. Competition for her love nearly tears them apart, but they soon find out she and her accomplice, played by Paul McCartney, are plotting to sink the ship! Also, Al Green is the ship's resident crooner."

The album is relaxing and sexy with disco elements and plenty of sax. My Renny sexual fantasy involves a thrift store disco ball turning very slowly, bouncing light off of two frosty mugs of beer. He'll then strut across the room, locking eye contact, and hand me my glass. He'll put the vinyl copy of Sugarglider on, and whisper in my ear that I'm the first girl to hear it. Despite his somewhat dorky looks, I have a feeling Renny could get a girl wetter than Prince can. I realize how ridiculous this all sounds, but somehow nothing about Renny or his music comes off as corny. I suppose it's because he's Canadian.

Sugarglider comes out January 22, 2013 on Mint Records. Watch the video for "Could've It Been Me?" below. If you want more, you can download the single "By and By" here.
- VICE

20. Renny Wilson
Sugarglider
(Mint Records)
Release Date: January 22

Edmonton songwriter Renny Wilson might not be the most instantly recognizable name on this list, but his album Sugarglider is undoubtedly one of the most promising releases of early 2013. His smooth style mixes soft rock with disco-dazzled pop, making for a sound that is as dreamy as it is danceable. In an announcement, the folks at Mint described it as their "go-to party record," but its synth and sax textures make it equally suited to headphone listening. (Alex Hudson) - Exclaim

Much like Owen Wilson in ‘Midnight In Paris,’ Alberta’s Renny Wilson seems to suffer from nostalgia as though it were an illness — and we don’t think that’s a bad thing. Many of the 23-year-old soloist’s idols have died or stopped making music, but they were all such timeless composers that their legacies live on through audio treats like ‘Sugarglider,’ Wilson’s latest full-length. Today, we have the first single from the effort, ‘By and By,’ a funky and smooth single that sounds like 2012's answer to 1977.

“Upon trying to construct what I wanted to be a ‘perfect pop album’ (not to mention my first album ever), I got really overwhelmed and frustrated and eventually scrapped nearly everything I was working on,” Wilson tells Diffuser.fm. “‘By and By’ was the first new thing I embarked on from what would become ‘Sugarglider,’ a collection of entirely new material that was not trying to be perfect, not trying to be anything, but groovy. To me, it’s a counter-album of sorts. It was artistic therapy.”

We think Renny nailed it on his debut — this is just honest groove. Grab ‘By And By’ below. - Diffuser

Edmonton Alberta's Renny Wilson kept things lit up from their echoing "By and By" wind tunnel draft-dance jam. Still keeping things Chill Mega Chill, Wilson employs liberal helpings of saxophone throughout the track with a keen eye to keep the bass line in toe with accompanying bells and random rhythmics in a self-assured formation Find "By and By" and more on the the forthcoming 2013 debut, Sugarglider slated for release on January 22, on Mint Records. - Impose Magazine

Edmonton Alberta's Renny Wilson kept things lit up from their echoing "By and By" wind tunnel draft-dance jam. Still keeping things Chill Mega Chill, Wilson employs liberal helpings of saxophone throughout the track with a keen eye to keep the bass line in toe with accompanying bells and random rhythmics in a self-assured formation Find "By and By" and more on the the forthcoming 2013 debut, Sugarglider slated for release on January 22, on Mint Records. - Impose Magazine

Dreamy disco is an underutilized concept, but Renny Wilson seems to get it. On "By And By," it's not about crushing clubs (or beers, for that matter), no, it's flightiness. Fitting nicely alongside contemporaries we've been loving like Poolside, Wilson takes the language of dance music and uses it for poppy excursions that feel supremely relaxed. His new album, the appropriately-titled Sugarglider, is out January 22 via Mint Records. - RDRD LBL

If you’ve been reading The FADER for a good couple of years, you’d know that there’s been a long-standing soft spot Studio, a now defunct duo that made beach disco perfect for lazing around. If you caught me in the right moment, I would probably tell you it was the best thing to ever exist. Renny Wilson—who probably spends a lot of time listening to yacht rock and old disco—has created a song that sits comfortably up there with Studio’s woefully small catalog. It’s lush and pretty, and more importantly: soft. Not in a bad way, though. It’s more that it feels blurred at the edges, existing in a constant half-sleep state of near bliss. Renny Wilson’s Sugarglider comes out January 22nd on Mint Records.
- The FADER

As a rule, I pretty much love blissed-out, hypnotic, sax-filled jams, so I was already going to enjoy “By and By”, the new single from Edmonton’s Renny Wilson, but throw in a sexy jeans & gyration-filled, self-shot video, and you can set the Friday Fun meter to 10+++. - Herohill.com

René is one chill bro. Lord knows he knows how to sport a Canadian tuxedo in style, and enjoy the finest cuisine chez 7-11. Follow him on a ‘day in the life’ as he maxes out his relaxes around hometown Edmonton in his Geo Metro. You’ll catch on soon enough. - YVYNYL

OLD UGLY’s Sugarglider strikes again with another airborne phantasia of bubble gum bass and drop top harmonies. Nobody is particularly funky in comparison to the other demos he’s been slowly dropping on the world over the last year or so. And the wanking guitar line plays off the bass like a wink reflected in a fist full of gold rings. DIG IT. - Argue Job

OLD UGLY’s Sugarglider strikes again with another airborne phantasia of bubble gum bass and drop top harmonies. Nobody is particularly funky in comparison to the other demos he’s been slowly dropping on the world over the last year or so. And the wanking guitar line plays off the bass like a wink reflected in a fist full of gold rings. DIG IT. - Argue Job

So I just finished an hour run on the beach; salty breezes, white capped waves, the sun hovering low into the horizon, with Rene Sugarglider Wilson on repeat the entire time. You know how you open the front door and you can smell your mom cooking your fav dinner? This is it. Wilson’s voice hovers gracefully over that incredibly fucking catchy guitar riff and you can’t help but nod your head, smile, and go back for seconds (thirds, fourths, etc). - Kissing Cousins

Edmontonian, Rene Wilson is Sugarglider, and he makes mildly retro funk, smooth as butter, pop songs. His slew of summertime demos helped delay my insatiable lust for more of these sounds. But here we are again, being teased by these fluid and bouncing sounds that make you want to close your eyes, tap your feet, and bob your head till you don’t know where you are anymore.

There is promise of a full-length by the new year. But with a perfectionists tendency, time is always running against you. - Smoke Don't Smoke

Edmonton avant-punk weirdo Renny Wilson rips it up on a "Proper Cop," a single from his new album of helium-huffing hardcore. Seven years in the making, Punk Explosion is an unhinged hodge-podge of punk and garage rock that thrashes like a shark in a kiddy pool. And while Wilson calls the forthcoming LP Punk Explosion “his Chinese Democracy,” this particular cut feels a lot more like a scratchy Blood Brothers song than anything that Guns ‘N Roses ever did. The album drops July 10th via Mint Records. - Noisey

It's been ten years since Montreal-via-Edmonton singer-songwriter and producer René "Renny" Wilson played his first show with his punk band the Subatomics. The group is inextricably tied to Edmonton's current pop royalty, as it featured both Travis Bretzer and later Peter Sagar (of Homeshake and Mac DeMarco fame). Wilson himself has since emerged as a sought-after producer (his warm tape abilities are all over that Faith Healer record) and a solo artist to watch (his 2013 LP Sugarglider is likely the best post-modern disco pop release Edmonton's ever birthed). He's recently opted to return to his roots, however, with the Renny Wilson Punk Explosion.

Birthed as a live act first, Wilson's latest project has now emerged with a self-titled debut. The artist has routinely explained that the project's mandate was to combine classic rock anthems with the dingy production of Crass without overthinking the process (like he admittedly did on Sugarglider).

Opener "Youngsters" sets the tone nicely, offering Devo-esque guitar jabs, driving drums and Wilson's vocals, which maintain a monotone falsetto throughout. It's simple, direct and endearing, and it sets the tone for the rest of the release. That said, it's hardly a one-note LP. Tracks like "Stiffed" add some sneer to the mix courtesy of Wilson's deliberately throat-shredding vocals, while "Sick" offers up some noisy post-punk. The album's real artist statement is its closing cover of Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero," which pairs harmonic melodies with rock'n'roll.

Despite the grit, attitude and Maximum Rock'n'Roll-ready cover art, Renny Wilson Punk Explosion is likely too self-aware and tongue-in-cheek to win over anyone who knows how to sew back patches or stud their own leather jackets. Instead, the album's a fun and frantic pop oddity that adds some chaos and energy to Wilson's oeuvre. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that. (Mint) - exclaim!

Renny Wilson stopped by with some friends to drop some Week in Pop guest selections; photographed by Ashleigh Brown.

Montreal hero Renny Wilson recently released Punk Explosion/Extension on Mint Records, and today we are proud to present the always-entertaining artist’s own Week in Pop guest selections, kicking off with the debut of a DIY video of Mr. Wilson covering a classic in a mix Renny calls:

RENNY’S CLASSIK CUTS N’ COVERS (continued...) - Impose

Last week at Sled Island, we fell in love with Renny Wilson’s hazy disco tunes. Sure, there’s nothing more fun than a romance kindled at a music festival, but the truth is, in the first flushes of attraction you really don’t know the other person yet. Right? For example—Wilson may have stolen our pop-loving hearts, but how were we to know that he’s been recording a punk album on the down low for the last eight years?

That noise opus (cleverly called Punk Explosion) is out now on Bandcamp for your purchasing pleasure. Or you could just stream it via our premiere below. - Under The Radar

Renny Wilson was getting tired of Sugarglider.

He’d been playing that debut album for years; on the cusp of another tour, Wilson didn’t want to play the same well-worn songs he’d been trotting out since before Sugarglider‘s 2012 release.

“I really wanted to swear off playing those songs for a bit and play a new set,” Wilson recalls. There was an alternative, at least in concept: since 2007, Wilson had been slowly amassing a library of caustic punk songs, far more attuned to his early days with high-school upstarts the Subatomics than Sugarglider‘s slick discoball grooves.

The songs had been tentatively targeting a release on Montréal’s Psychic Handshake Records, but that end goal had seemingly fallen away due to a slow-going process.

“I’d get the creative energy to make one of those songs every year, pretty much—once a year, twice a year, maybe,” Wilson says. “I’d still email Graham [Langdon, Psychic Handshake co-founder] periodically, being like, ‘Hey, are you still interested in doing this album?’ It was like three years of me sending him emails […] he stopped responding to me at some point.”

Still, that impending tour proved to be the deadline Wilson needed: he finished a tapes’ worth of songs, stuck a title on it—on his iTunes, he’d labelled the songs as the Renny Wilson Punk Explosion, a placeholder name that’s stuck—and hit the road with a much more combustive set. In Punk Explosion, Wilson lets loud blasts of punk pogo up beside metal-sized riffs and nimble hooks. There’s plenty of self-awareness—a cover of Foreigner’s very-unpunk “Juke Box Hero” ends the album—as well as a level tunefulness to back it all up, but the more prominent thoughline here is abrasion.

Conjuring up the sort of spirit necessary for sounds like this isn’t always readily on hand, Wilson notes.

“That was very easy when I was young; I had a lot of that kind of energy, when I was doing Subatomics,” Wilson says. “It would be at certain times, during the year, that I would be driven to make something like that: I find that often the songs’ subject matter was something that made me mad.

“This sounds so cliché, but it’s true,” he adds. “When you have that angry energy, you want to like destroy something, so why not the musical art form as a thing?”

Wilson wrote and recorded four more Punk Explosion songs for the album’s expanded release on Mint Records; as an antipode to Sugarglider‘s studio-wrought sound, Wilson recorded the Punk Explosion tracks quickly, when he’d actually get around to them: write the part and record it, then fit the lyrics to what was there, rather than overtweaking it in advance.

“When you’re writing songs of any type, you can get over-the-top with massaging the lyrical flow and cadence, whatever, before you even hear it to music,” Wilson says. “And then as soon as you put it to your musical idea, it doesn’t fit; you just have to throw all of it out the window.

“With this, I would just sketch out a lyrical idea, and then change it so it fit over the music,” he adds. “And it would all happen in one day, usually, maybe two.”

The volatility of the result is part of the Punk Explosion’s appeal.

“All the songs are almost equally off-the-cuff, but some of them are genius and some of them are the opposite. You know what I mean?” Wilson laughs. “I think sometimes you luck out and other times you don’t. If that’s the way you work.

“When it comes to making an album, you can’t necessarily have everything be gold—it’s like driving your car down the highway,” he continues, an ironic tone taking over as he fleshes out the comparison. “Sometimes you see nice little cute towns and little monuments. And other times you’re looking at canola fields. It’s all about the journey, man.” - Vue Weekly

Renny’s strange vocalizations oxymoronically have no place with his music, but fit them perfectly. At times his singing sounds as if Elmo grew up and found Meth. This album is everything I have always thought punk should be, downright obnoxious, at times painful to listen too, and in your face about it. After listening to this I am pretty sure Renny is the love child of some strange orgy involving the Dead Kenedy’s, the Ramones, and the Butthole Surfers. - KJHK

CALGARY — Come gather around, children. Do you hear that faint drum beat off in the distance? It’s a call to revolution, the sound of the punk rock war cry echoing across the Prairies and, in a button-down conservative province like Alberta, it may be just in the nick of time. The aforementioned sound is the sound of Edmonton musician Renny Wilson’s new album making its way to the people. Beloved by critics and afficionados, but generally unknown to the majority of the record-buying public, Wilson has been gone virtually unnoticed on a larger scale. From his humble beginnings with Edmonton’s garage-punk trio, The Subatomics, to his solo album, his light and disco-hued release Sugarglider, Wilson has been consistently slaying it but remains one of the most underrated artists of the Alberta scene.

When he was 17, his band The Subatomics parted ways, due in part to artistic differences. Following the band’s split, Wilson recorded some new songs at home with the hopes of recording the “punkest thing ever,” as he would describe his vision. As he says, “During Subatomics, I remember hearing the song, ‘Death Has Come Over Me,’ by the Knaughty Knights; I loved it so much from that from that point on I wanted to base the sound of the Subs off it. When I started recording new songs on my own, they had a similar feel, filtered through Crass and the Oblivians (a band The Subatomics were sort-of modelled after) and “guitar-riff” music like Ted Nugent’s ‘Cat Scratch Fever,’ Kiss’ ‘Detroit Rock City’ and Foreigner’s ‘Jukebox Hero’ (these are all songs that have a little musical trick where the guitars move keys over a single droning root note),” before adding, “of course, I never really achieved the goal at that time; it took until now to finish all of the tracks and, I guess, the vision sort-of altered with time, as might happen with something that took so long to finish. This punk album was always a really big idea in my head and something I was determined I could execute properly, but something I hardly ever worked on.”

Cut to seven years later and that is precisely what Wilson has done with his new release, Punk Explosion. Harkening back to the 1970s, the golden era of the loud-and-proud DIY aesthetic, Punk Explosion pays tribute to all the garage punk giants that came before while coming together in a fresh way. Wilson’s trademark smooth falsetto can still be heard on some of the tracks, such as on “Youngsters,” while others, like “Stiffed,” have a wild and screeching quality to it. Finding new and untrodden territory in such a well-worn territory is no easy feat, but Wilson seems to do so effortlessly, culminating in a virtual orgy of fast drums and quick and snarling guitar riffs.

For anyone who is familiar with his lighter fare, this is going to seem like a stark and striking contrast between this release and his earlier work. When asked what prompted such a drastic change in stylistic direction, Wilson responds, “Nothing really prompted it because it was always there on the back burner. The decision to release it under the Renny Wilson moniker was where the strange decision lies — I thought it was funny to release it under my name. Also, at this point, I kinda wanted to. Besides, no better name idea came to mind.”

Hopefully, this is just the tip of the iceberg for the exciting sounds that are coming out of Alberta. We’ll just have to wait and see if the punk explosion hits this sleepy province and wakes up a few folks around these parts.

Renny Wilson’s Punk Explosion is available online at rennywilson.com. You can see him live on September 1st at Wunderbar (Edmonton). - Beatroute