Die Mannequin want you to know that they’re all grown up now. The Toronto dirt-rock band’s first full-length album Fino + Bleed is a slick, polished affair, with the now-foursome’s sound filled out by big shiny keyboards and extra guitars. The biggest change is lead singer Care Failure’s voice—although she still maintains a slight rasp, […]
Alison Lang
Posted inArts + Music
Rah Rah on the road
When I reach Marshall Burns, he informs me that he’s currently in a 16-person van, barrelling down a highway somewhere in northern Ontario. It’s indicative of the exciting new changes for the Regina guitarist and his band, Rah Rah, who are in the midst of its very first coast-to-coast tour in support of a very […]
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Cleaning up Die Mannequin
It’s no secret that Die Mannequin’s lead singer and guitarist Care Failure has had a rocky life. The band’s press bio—newly updated to coincide with the release of its first full-length album Fino + Bleed—spreads the story bare: Failure wrestled with a friend’s suicide, ran away from home and fell into heavy drug use and […]
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Playing the Fielder
Last summer, the producers of This Hour Has 22 Minutes sent the show’s man-on-the-street Nathan Fielder to the US to make a documentary about the presidential election. He got as far as Virginia. And although Love and Cameras in America features a brief encounter between Fielder and then-candidate Barack Obama, the movie has very little […]
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Daniel LeDisko’s house rules
Daniel LeDisko has a couple of things to get off his chest. The DJ has racked up air miles playing shows all over the world over the past few years as one half of the electro-remix juggernauts LA Riots (the other half is producer Jo’B). The duo have produced a huge array of remixes for […]
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I love this karaoke town
Like everything else in life, a good bar crowd has several sub-categories. You have the determined drunks, the social smokers, the bored-as-shit designated-driver significant others, the pickup artists and the large dudes who speak exclusively in outdoor voices. There is a special subsection of this party category that is often overlooked, however: the karaoke singers. […]
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Fringers get so lucky in Love
To the casual observer, Garry Williams and Amy Reitsma appear breezy and calm as they sit down at a Barrington Street cafe on a sunny afternoon. Reitsma smiles and sips coffee, while Williams orders carrot cake. This all seems fairly innocuous until the pair reveal that they are in the midst of writing, preparing and […]
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Ears ring for Cobra Jets
After a few line-up changes, Friday night at Gus’ with The Motorleague, The Cobra Jets, The Cuban Assassins and The Baketones promises to be a rip-snorting, ribcage-juddering rock ‘n’ roll party that will leave you with ringing ears and dry heaves. That’s the ambition of Frederiction’s Cobra Jets, anyhow. “Our sound has been described as […]
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Andy Rourke takes a spin
If you trust the words of Morrissey, his old bandmates have been sitting on their collective thumbs over the past decade. In an interview with Uncut a few years ago, Mozzer bristled: “I feel as if I’ve worked very hard since the demise of The Smiths and the others haven’t.” Of course, the statement isn’t […]
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Amelia Curran’s true heart
Amelia Curran has a good laugh. Seated in the corner of a cozy downtown bar, the Halifax musician at first appears grounded, serious, a little intimidating—her steely blue eyes appraise you, polite but guarded. But as the night goes on and beers are drained, her laugh ebbs out from the ends of sentences. It’s one […]
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Modest Mouse
This assemblage of b-sides from Modest Mouse’s last two studio LPs (2004’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News and 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank) sounds the part. Songs like opener “Satellite Skin” and “Autumn Beds,” while pleasant, are bland and unmemorable. But then there’s showstopper “King Rat,” which opens […]
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Rick White’s noise
When Rick White steps onto a stage, the first thing you notice is his guitar. It’s a well-worn acoustic with a cosmic scene adorning its body—acrylic paint swirls from the sound hole, spreading brilliantly outward. As White and his guitar settle into a chair at the main tent before his suppertime set at this year’s […]