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The Coast | News, events, restaurants, concerts and Burger Week for Halifax, Nova Scotia
Home of the Best of Halifax Reader's Choice Awards, the award-winning independent newspaper covers the Halifax news, politics, events, concerts, movies, restaurants, and nightlife scene.
What else could you possibly be doing aside from seeing Charles Bradley in Sackville, New Brunny?
Not much, really.
On this debut EP from Halifax’s Southern Shores, each track bubbles its way into existence, as if appearing out of a tropical haze on the horizon, and then wanders off before growing stale. Despite being less than a year old, the duo shows a great sophistication in production and pace: cleverly placed film dialogues give […]
With each release, these Manhattan experimentalists become more confident and continue to crystallize their disparate influences; Eye Contact, their fifth album, is no exception. The album opens with a voice saying “I can hear everything, it’s everything time” which is the perfect descriptor for the blissful psychedelia that follows. From its beginnings as an edgy, […]
In the early ’90s, many rappers were reaping the benefits from long overdue attention they were receiving from the general public. Hip-hop was quickly becoming a major force in North American popular music as more and more people began shedding their preconceptions. With huge backing from major labels, artists like Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, 2Pac […]
In the old French Quarter of New Orleans stands a building rich with history and slim on amenities. It serves no food or drink, has no air conditioning and offers very little in the way of sight lines and capacity. In short, it does not provide the greatest conditions in which to run a business. […]
With the smooth sounds of ’90s R&B and rap coming back in style, it’s the perfect time for west coast veteran DJ Quik to make his return. His first album in six years, The Book Of David sounds as if it’s been laying dormant in a time capsule since his heyday in the mid-’90s. Full […]
Upon arriving at the home of Jonathan Carroll (guitar/vocals), I was roped into a game of four square with his five-year-old neighbour. After the interview, I was invited to stick around and watch Star Trek or “maybe go to Value Village.” Everything with this band is so delightfully copacetic. They insist the band works because […]
Two of Halifax’s best-kept secrets have finally started making a name for themselves. Guitarist Ben Dalton and producer/beatmaker Jamie Townsend formed Southern Shores while living together in Berlin last fall. Less than a month after posting their first track “Grand Comore” on Soundcloud, New York/LA-based label Cascine Records offered to release a six-song EP (slated […]
Jess Lewis has spent the last decade proving herself a stellar sidekick in a handful of Just Friends groups including The Pinecones, Hymm, Church Of Satan and The K-Tels, handling bass, guitar and backing vocal duties. However, in the past year, mostly due to requests from her close friends, Lewis has stepped into the spotlight. […]
Portland’s Liz Harris returns in fine form with a double LP of ethereal experimentation. Though not quite equalling the sublime sinkhole of her 2008 release Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, this similar-minded set still manages to gently lull the listener into its unique world of tape warble and heavenly vocal loops. Harris has […]
Quaker Parents return with more restless, shoestring pop; combining a plethora of clever quips, jittery guitars and stripped-down drums.“Teeshirts” is a standout with its anthemic, ’60s girl-group chorus. The flip side is a decidedly scrappier affair: Dream Friends muster up all their wide-eyed enthusiasm and earn their keep on their debut outing. As everything wanders […]
On the eve of its North American tour, Long Long Long dropped this feast of a tape (also available at longlonglong.bandcamp.com). The song structures herein are entirely novel and yet they pull the listener along with the familiar anticipation of a pop song. Complete with reticulating guitar lines, curious religious references, some found sounds and […]
