Despite the office-bully attitude of Pissed Jeans—Allentown, Pennsylvania’s raddest hardcore band—frontperson Mark Kosloff says he’s not one for giving wedgies. “I’d rather receive,” he says of the prank that involves yanking someone’s underpants by surprise. “If I could choose, I’d probably want [pro-wrestler] Chyna to wedgie me.” For the band’s first time in Halifax, Pissed […]
Adria Young
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Zolkower’s folk hour
“When I think of folk music, I think of a person with a guitar singing about rivers and streams and trees and the wind,” says songwriter Rebecca Zolkower, laughing. “It must be those natural elements because folk music is always simple and stripped-down, talking about real experiences and real things.” But folk is both a […]
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This Sound Will Save You’s emotional rescue
Halifax’s hard-working electro-pop three-piece, This Sound Will Save You, releases its debut album, Let the Light Lead You, at the Carleton on Monday. With multi-instrumentalist Matt Fudge, vocalist/UK-transplant Chloe Jones and Nico Orengo on drums, the album shows off the emotive depth and wealth of feeling that infuses the band. “We wanted a record where […]
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Bones brigade
“I‘m on the fence about ghosts. People say they see them, but they could just be lying,” says CROSSS’ Andy March. “I’ll go out on a limb and say I believe in psychic surgery, something like exorcism, but you know, the real kind, the underworld/subtle-body type.” The high priest at Youth Club Records summons the […]
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Sloan
The last band standing from the early ’90s Halifax-Moncton scene, Sloan has always been into punk, more prominent in the Pentland/Murphy catalogues than Ferguson/Scott. Written in ’88, “Jenny,” about Murphy’s ex/jale’s Jennifer Pierce, nails power hardcore. “It’s in You, It’s in Me” veers a bit back into Sloan-pop (see rock solo, The Offspring, harmonic outro) […]
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Love story
Surrealist and experimental art embraces urges to break rules, any rules and all rules. Wait a minute, what rules? Exactly. For OBEY Convention VI, Divorce Records is bringing aural outsiders to Halifax from June 6 to 9, to showcase the beauty of transgressive music. As prep, the OBEY fundraiser brings back Toronto’s dark-art-rocker Slim Twig […]
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Gianna Lauren’s On Personhood of interest
Do you believe in magic? On Friday at Gus’ Pub, Gianna Lauren releases On Personhood, her enchanting new six-track album. Recorded at The House of Miracles, a converted 1860s horse stable in Cambridge, Ontario, Lauren says the experience was charmed. The CKDU staffer can’t wait to show off her new studio band, Justin Nace, JJ […]
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Shotgun Jimmie is Everything all at once
When Shotgun Jimmie rolls into Michael’s Bar & Grill on Saturday, he’ll probably be the happiest guy in town. The Sackville-turned-Manitoban one-man rock ‘n’ roll band releases Everything, Everything, 16 diverse four-track recordings on clear vinyl with special guests like Julie Doiron and trombones. He reunites with Jon McKiel and Old & Weird, also joined […]
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Business woman
“As a musician, a performer, a songwriter, a singer, all I really want to do is create something of quality, and create what is in my heart at the moment,” says Jenny MacDonald. “I know how cheesy that sounds, but isn’t the essence of art?” The non-stop touring singer-songwriter showcases tunes from Bye, Bye, Mr. […]
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Curse Words
With tons of acclaim under their beards, including two ECMW nominations for Loud Recording of the Year, the Dartmouth dudes of Orchid’s Curse release their third studio album, Words, at The Seahorse on Friday. Presented by Red Tentacle PR and the label Diminished Fifth Records (both co-run by vocalist Josh Hogan), Orchid’s Curse will be […]
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Free ride
“The whole idea behind suddenlyLISTEN is to spread the word about improvisation and really teach people how to listen in a different way when they approach this art,” says Zokugaku free-jazz improv guitarist Geordie Haley. With Dalhousie music lecturer Tim Crofts and drummer Doug Cameron, Zokugaku is a special project for all three multi-genre professional […]
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Austin power
Local pop-punk band Cold Warps is gearing up for a 4,196-kilometre drive. Along with Kestrels, Skratch Bastid, Ben Caplan and Steve Poltz, Cold Warps will represent Halifax at The South by Southwest international music festival in Austin, Texas next month. Wish them luck! Joined by Cousins and Organ Magic, Cold Warps kicks off its first […]