Every city’s got its colour. Halifax, on rainy spring evenings, is a hazy purple-blue. Toronto, in contrast, is undoubtedly grey. There’s a certain monochrome here that can’t be recreated in any other city; Laurentian should develop a Toronto grey colour pencil. We wake up to that special shade of grey. Rain’s forecasted all day — […]
Mark Teo
Posted inArts + Music
The Coast does NXNE day three: Neutral Uke Hotel, Golden Dogs, By Divine Right, Rich Aucoin, White Cowbell Oklahoma
“I’m over music.” Those are the words of Renata Axler, a card-carrying member of Neon Windbreaker, who’s joined myself and Marianne Madeline Lau, our gutsy photographer, for most of our NXNE journey. Yes, we’re coming off a 12-hour, 12+ drink day, but with the aid of a few electrolyte beverages and espresso shots, we’re back […]
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The Coast does NXNE day two: Elliott Brood, Besnard Lakes, Walter Schreifels, Neon Windbreaker
Marianne Madeline Lau Walter Schreifels @ The Bovine Sex Club I’ll admit it: I’m still a little shell-shocked after seeing Walter Schreifels perform last night. Whether via straight-edge pioneers Gorilla Biscuits, the metallic muscle of Quicksand, the grungy indie of Rival Schools or the 60s pop of Walking Concert, Schreifels has been informing my musical […]
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The Coast does NXNE day one: The Grass, Wayfarer and Cavaliers
“Good things are coming our way,” sang Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Rival Schools) last night. He wasn’t lying, but more on him in a future post. I’m writing today from the patio of a Queen street coffee shop at the beginning of day three. My hair’s quietly forming into gross dread-y clumps, I’m covered in cat hair from couch surfing and my shirt still smells like stale booze. I’m not quite Alison Lang at Bonnaroo, but after two long, long nights, we’re getting there. So it begins. After picking up my press lanyard, I scoop up scrappy, talented local photographer
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The Coast does NXNE: A preview
This ain’t Toronto, or at least not the Toronto I remember. There’s a chain link fence cordoning off a large swath of the downtown core. Kites and radio-controlled aircraft, I’m told, are strictly forbidden. Poorly-marked CCTV cameras track every movement south of bustling Queen Street. Two-week summer condo sublets cost roughly $8,400. And there are […]
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Refreshing Milks
It’s perhaps the most common advice for aspiring musicians: Don’t quit your day job. But concerned parents and IPA-saturated hecklers needn’t worry; Charlottetown-based indie-pop foursome Milks and Rectangles never wanted to, anyhow. Not when your band includes an alt-weekly freelancer, a veterinarian, an astronomer and a member of the Coast Guard. “We’re a pretty motley […]
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Diamond Rings shine
If there’s a single accuracy to High Fidelity‘s Rob Fleming, it’s that devout music listeners are compulsive list-makers. And those quick to compartmentalize will surely reduce Toronto blog-buzz darling John O’Regan, AKA Diamond Rings, to the easiest, glam-drogenous denominators: Ziggy Stardust, Boy George, Adam Ant. But layered eyeliner, animal-print tights and retina-scorching legwarmers aside, Diamond […]
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Being Gentlemen Husbands
Floridian beard-punks Hot Water Music did it. So, too, did Welland, ON’s Attack in Black. But the latest group of ex-hardcore punks to trade in their heather-grey hoodies for bolo ties is Cobourg, ON’s Gentlemen Husbands. And we have Ryan Adams to thank for that. “We were driving up to Montreal to play with a […]
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Boxer the Horse’s vinyl melting pot
According to singer Jeremy Gaudet, it’s not the Tsarists who are grinding Boxer the Horse’s (named for the character in Animal Farm) gears. Actually, it’s actor Zooey Deschanel. “PEI’s a summer province—it’s inspiring in the summer, not the winter, and we try to reflect that,” he says. “We [initially] named our album 300 Days of […]
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Free Energy
Lazy record reviewers might compare Stuck on Nothing to Thin Lizzy. And they’re right, until they aren’t. Yes, Stuck might sound like classic rock, but more accurately, this is hyper-competent revisionist history. Produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Free Energy’s debut is all Gary Glitter backbeats, three-note solos and pool-party pop bangers. In their words, […]
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Shout out for Hollerado
“You’re totally going to write that Hollerado went to China to eat a lot of dicks.” Those are Menno Versteeg’s words, not ours. But Versteeg, the singer of the Montreal-via-Manotick, ON, power-pop foursome, is serious. He’s reminiscing about Hollerado’s recent tour of China, where, between busking at Tiananmen Square and getting shot at by the […]
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Crime in Stereo
It’s official: Crime in Stereo have ditched their Lifetime and Kill Your Idols vinyl. Their previous effort, Is Dead, was Brand New worship; Trying has them emerging from their post-everything identity crisis. While vocalist Kristian Hallbert still strains like a Revolution Summer-era Ian MacKaye, this feels more like a rite of passage than a Rite […]