Over the last few years, Mayne’s #ChopTrees mixtapes have turned him into a brand. His newest project, Chop Trees Over Everything, drops September 18 with a digital and physical release. Coughing from the chronic, Mayne says he’s been changing his game. He considers this album the finale in the #ChopTrees series, recorded at Halifax MC […]
Adria Young
Posted inArts + Music
Balls!
I always wished I was one of the guys, shooting hoops, telling fart jokes, grasping the simple codes of masculinity. I wanted in on the exclusive camaraderie of all the boys down all the streets of my youth. I could never really belong because I was a girl, after all. But Toronto’s Rob Salerno confirms […]
Posted inArts + Music
Behind the Portable
Imagine an art exhibit moving through traffic lanes and streetscapes, on beards and on jackets, in attics or pockets. Would it change the way you view it? How much does art rely on its context? In a series of manifestos in the 1960s, German-born Gustav Metzger used his theory of Auto-Destructive Art as an emblem […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Show tell
August 30-September 9 Atlantic Fringe Festival The Atlantic Fringe Festival has been putting on curiously charming acts for over 20 years. Original works of playwrights, musicians and dancers enliven downtown theatres “on the cheap,” from the really funny to the deeply felt. Highlights include the one-man melodies of Merv Hartlen (Merv’n Out), the comedy and […]
Posted inArts + Music
In a HUFF
In 1965, Bob Dylan led the transition from traditional American folk music to the new folk revival, pissing off fans by playing with amps in Newport, Rhode Island. But the Electric Dylan controversy helped redefine folk and expanded practice in other “common man” genres like country. Exposing stasis, Dylan used his resources to make folk […]
Posted inArts + Music
Extrasensory experience
In this age of omnipresent internet and cultural over-saturation, the No Wave movement has almost more utility now than it did as an underground art and music scene in the early 1980s. Avant-garde electronic, minimalist synth, post-punk, industrial, jazz punk artists are forced to operate in disparate and dark places. Even in obscurity, or perhaps […]
Posted inArts + Music
Evolve 2012
DAY 1: FRIDAY Unless you are a magician or time-traveller, it’s almost impossible to see every band at Evolve. At least, every full set. Five stages were full from noon ‘til morning light, every night. But the grounds are cozy so you can mosey through the bands with drinks in your hands. This year’s lineup […]
Posted inArts + Music
Prideful performances
Young Kaii From Providence, Rhode Island, rising hip-hop star Young Kaii is taking steps to change the rap game. As a woman in a male-dominated industry, Young Kaii says she has to work harder but doesn’t make compromises. Staying independent, Young Kaii creates art freely for herself and those who enjoy it. Inspired by east […]
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Gee, Jimmie
I really identify with The Beav,” says Shotgun Jimmie (AKA Jim Kilpatrick), recalling his favourite childhood TV show Leave It to Beaver. “I watched it every day at lunch.” The classic sitcom, which followed the innocent but inquisitive Theodore “The Beaver” Cleaver through post-war suburbia, was a balance of traditional values and welcome change. Despite […]
Posted inArts + Music
Do the Evolve
It’s hard to believe that one of Canada’s best music festivals could get any greater but believe it, baby: Evolve 2012 is going to blow the confetti right out of you. Now in its twelfth year, 100 acts from across the world will be in Antigonish for the three-day eco-focused tent and stage mini-city. Alongside […]
Posted inArts + Music
Fond of Tigers
“We sit in this middle ground where really hardcore avant-garde people probably think we’re The Backstreet Boys,” says Stephen Lyons, founder and frontman of Fond of Tigers, “while people who love pop probably think we’re a sonic assault squad sent to torture them.” The Vancouver septet returns to the east coast for their first show […]
Posted inArts + Music
Threnodies
Susanne Chui, soon-to-be artistic director of Mocean Dance, has been working hard with three contemporary dance artists choreographing six pieces by nationally-recognized jazz guitarist Geordie Haley. A novel performance for the Halifax Jazz Festival, Threnodies unites music and dance to give shape to the mood that the music inspires. Drawing on blues, Threnodies laments the […]