In 2007, OBEY Convention started “as a small happening aimed at celebrating weird and sometimes subversive music,” says founder and organizer Darcy Spidle. “From day one, it caught on.” In the last eight years, intimate meetings of contemporary art and music have grown to epic proportions. OBEY reinvents itself every year and still maintains its […]
Adria Young
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Fall in—your complete guide to OBEY Convention is here
In this, its ninth year, OBEY is bigger and more inclusive than ever. Along with the standard tightly curated collection of boundary pushing music shows and the Khyber’s Art In Fest running all weekend—Thursday, May 26 through Sunday, May 29—the festival features a new lecture series, the EverySeeker Symposium, plus a mandate to make more […]
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Check out Alienation bringing punk to the library
Libraries are usually quiet spaces for reading, but Dartmouth hardcore band Alienation will blow the books off the shelves for an all-ages show on Friday at the Memorial North Library with their loud, fast D-beat punk. “The location is funny,” says vocalist and author Dylan Jewers. “Poverty, crime and deep-rooted community on one side, then […]
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Mykki Blanco, Coast cover grrl
In contemporary art and culture, we are constantly striving to challenge and renegotiate accepted conventions and expectations. But Mykki Blanco, the Orange County rapper, poet, activist and actor—also queer, non-binary, HIV-positive and influenced by Riot Grrls—is the supreme being of artistic change in 2016. In her ascent as the most prominent figure in underground rap, […]
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Joshua Abrams takes jazz in all sorts of different directions
On Saturday night, Halifax will be treated to one of Chicago’s most interesting film composers and jazz multi-instrumentalists. Joshua Abrams makes music that is challenging, accessible and it rings in tune with the body. For over 15 years, Abrams has been creating worlds within worlds. Since 2010, he performs with a rotating ensemble called the […]
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Techno with DJ Kaz_Kandy
“The music I tend to play is usually techno and acid house,” says DJ Kaz_Kandy (AKA Kelly Zwicker). “Sometimes I like playing EDM and minimal-wave, but techno is a really transcendent type of music for me. I love how repetitive and hard-hitting it can be, while still having so much depth. Plus, it’s just super-fun […]
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Brave Radar’s minimalist pop
Playing soft and intricate pop, Brave Radar began as the solo project of Sydney, Australia’s Conor Prendergast. After moving to Montreal, he was joined by Halifax’s Tessa Smith of Fixture Records. The band has since grown to be a four-piece, full-fledged member of Montreal’s independent scene, with Smith’s label at the centre. If he could […]
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The EverySeeker Symposium debuts
OBEY Convention is more than just a weekend of seeing wicked, life-changing bands. For its ninth and most robust year, OBEY has prepared its very first music lecture series, the EverySeeker Symposium, running in tandem with the rest of the festival. Organized by former Halifax musician and current music theory student Dave Ewenson, who is […]
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Marie Davidson, electro poet
“I find inspiration in my everyday life,” says Montreal composer, poet and synth-artist Marie Davidson. “I often take notes of thoughts I’ve had or things that people say to me. If you come close to me, you might end up in a song.” Since the release of her debut LP Perte d’identité in 2014, Davidson […]
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Peerless avant-garde music from Zs
“Zs has no peers really,” says Sam Hillmer, founder and tenor saxophonist of his Brooklyn-based experimental avant-garde ensemble (pronounced the American way, “zees”). “But there are really engaged audiences.” With Patrick Higgins and Greg Fox, Zs is a sonic experience that exceeds expectation, even though “expectation is the death of experience,” Hillmer says. With swelling […]
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Watch this new video “Wishing Well” from The Everywheres
Last month, Halifax psych-rock-weirdos The Everywheres released the full-length Dignity Fever, recorded around Halifax and the South Shore, to much praise and surprise. Production-wise, it’s sharp as hell; thematically, the eight tracks roam around what it’s like to live in Halifax. Sometimes, spending time in Halifax means making music with your friends. Filmed and edited by video […]
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Playing the Field: Lots of fun on Shotgun Jimmie’s new album
After a long winter in Brandon, Manitoba, Polaris Prize-nominated rock ‘n’ roller Shotgun Jimmie (Jim Kilpatrick) is back on tour with his new album Field of Trampolines. Produced by Joel Plaskett at his Dartmouth studio New Scotland Yard over four jam-packed days last August, it’s Jimmie’s most fun and upbeat record to date, and the positive vibes are […]