York Redoubt has a self-deprecating streak, but the band doesn’t need it. Over sushi on Quinpool, the band gripes at length about how terribly they played at a PEI show the previous night, and refers to the content of their tape released this spring as “crappy York Redoubt.” All this bad press from a young […]
Laura Kenins
Posted inArts + Music
Cousins
Aaron Mangle has been playing solo under the name A Helpful Diagram for a couple years, but this summer he picked up a band and became Cousins. While the scrappy, low-fi aesthetic of A Helpful Diagram had its charms, Mangle’s songs develop into something more when fleshed out with a full band, foggy indie-rock with […]
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Black Diamond Bay
When a friend first played me The Dears in the summer of 2000, I liked them but wanted everything to sound more like Radiohead’s OK Computer. This is the album I should have had that summer, which is not to say it’s dated, but rather a little bit Dears, a little bit haunting, a little […]
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Tyvek
Anyone still wondering what all the buzz about garage rock is lately needs look no further than this record. After releasing a series of EPs and CD-Rs in its hometown of Detroit, Tyvek has built up a solid fan base across North America and Europe before its first full-length came out. This self-titled effort does […]
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Electro Chiac Therapie
With neon-pink covers and the initial pressing on lavender vinyl, this split seven-inch between locals ECT and Saint John’s Reclusive Mute doesn’t lack for colour, either in the presentation or the eletro-punk-experimental sounds. ECT’s Lindsay Sue’s vocals are only moderately intelligible between the shrieky volume and the fact they sing in the Acadian Franco-Anglo mash-up […]
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Tongan Death Grip
Local favourites Tongan Death Grip stuck around the Halifax punk scene for scarcely a year before losing a member to Montreal. Fans have to sate themselves with rare appearances now, but fortunately there’s this four-song EP that captures the energy and pop-punk fervour of live shows. “Murder at Pop Tate’s” is as fast and addictive […]
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Sister Suvi
Toronto-Montreal three-piece Sister Suvi is all over the map, but that’s a good thing. They share a member with Islands, whose influence is audible, but Sister Suvi has its own clear, folky, rhythmic sound. Now I Am Champion at times suggests the ukulele-fuelled lo-fi music of The Magnetic Fields and The Mountain Goats, at times […]
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Magical Nomi Chi
Nomi Chi is intently sketching an animal skull on a wall between several of her paintings when I arrive to meet her at Utility Gallery. I’m hesitant to disturb her, waiting several minutes before she finally takes a step back from the drawing. It’s a display of the sort of commitment that’s been necessary to […]
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100 Dollars’ urban legend
100 Dollars is on its way to play a small festival in an upstate New York barn when I reach them. The barn is home to some ducks and geese, and I ask if they’ll enjoy the music. “We don’t write for birds,” singer Simone Schmidt says. “But pain runs through all walks of life, […]
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The Bad Plus is all good
“Wouldn’t it be great to hear a jazz version of Led Zeppelin?” That’s what Reid Anderson asked his bandmate Dave King, when the two first played together in high school, two decades ago. “It’s always been part of the jazz tradition to play the pop music of the day,” Anderson says. Playing a mix of […]
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The Pack A.D. kicks your ass
Don’t let a Monday night stop you: Vancouver’s The Pack A.D. will kick your Monday—and every other night—in the ass. For a two-piece band, they put on an intense performance, playing blues-fuelled garage rock. Their album Funeral Mixtape was released a year ago, but the duo’s still been touring since March, managed to record a […]
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Granelli’s children: Panos Gianoullis and Denma Peisinger
Denma Peisinger is living with master jazz percussionist and composer Jerry Granelli, doing an “old-fashioned apprenticeship.” Peisinger, who plays bass, and guitarist Panos Gianoullis met while studying with Granelli in a program teaching free jazz to young musicians at the Atlantic Jazz Festival. They have been collaborating recently, as well as playing in Granelli’s ensemble […]