On Halifax rapper Quake Matthews’ third full-length album, Corrado, Fairview’s favourite son drops knowledge rivaling rappers twice his age. Starting off with the atmospheric “Feel,” Matthews swiftly attacks 14 tracks with Illmatic-era bravado, unleashing positively charged Beatles shoutouts (“Let It Be”), Marxist-levels of financial disillusionment (“I Hate Money,” “Lucy”) and heady trip-hop (“Old Ghosts”). Deploying […]
Matthew Ritchie
Posted inArts + Music
Quake
Late nights on the road are to be expected from any rapper. But for Halifax hip-hop artist Quake Matthews—who’s currently celebrating his first national tour in support of Classified this month—it’s business as usual for the Fairview-born rap phenom. “I never stop recording,” he says when asked about video of an all-night recording session posted […]
Posted inArts + Music
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
Riding on the coattails of Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 is a straight to DVD adaptation of the gritty Frank Miller comic that inspired a generation of storytellers. After a ten-year absence, Bruce Wayne dons his cowl one more time to kick ass and take […]
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Foals
On “Inhaler,” the lead single from UK math-rockers Foals’ third album, Holy Fire, the tunesmiths explode in a flurry of distortion and arena-ready riffs. Anchored by bandleader Yannis Philippakis’ usually inaudible croon, during the opener’s climactic chorus, the young singer’s vocal chords sound close to combustion, screaming, “I can’t get enough space,” overtop his band’s […]
Posted inFood + Drink
A moveable feast
Nick Horne has always been good with his hands. Growing up, he was taught the joys of gardening by his mother at an early age. In the fall they would harvest, canning and preserving their produce for storage in his family’s root cellar. As he got older, his love of food turned to automobiles. When […]
Posted inArts + Music
Iceage
If punk is dead, these 20-somethings didn’t get the message. Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, left-leaning punks Iceage have taken the urgency of early Black Flag and combined it with the book-smart aggression of fellow Scandinavian-revolutionaries Refused to create an album that’s equal parts unabashed-desolation and youthful-exuberance. On the aptly titled You’re Nothing, Iceage unleashes a […]
Posted inArts + Music
My Bloody Valentine
When My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless was released in 1991, no one could imagine it would take more than two decades for a follow up to the shoegaze classic. After a wait rivalling Chinese Democracy’s, the indie-rock connoisseurs return with mbv, a smattering of highly infectious dream-pop picking up right where the band left off. There […]
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Birthday BA
B.A. Johnston is ageless. Ask the Hamilton-raised singer-songwriter how old he’ll be turning the week before his birthday and he’ll likely tell you he’s 38. But the Internet tells a different story. On Twitter, he’s 42. On Facebook, it’s 50. No matter his age, Johnston (real name Christian Johnston) has grown over years of performing […]
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A$AP Rocky
Harlem globetrotter A$AP Rocky returns with Long.Live.A$AP, the follow-up to his critically lauded and commercially hyped Live.Love.A$AP mixtape. As far as debut albums go, the young Rakim Mayers doesn’t disappoint. Featuring the creme de la creme of hip hop’s new school of eclectic wunderkinds, A$AP gains support from the likes of Danny Brown, Kendrick Lamar […]
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Led Zeppelin
When Led Zeppelin announced they were reuniting in honour of the late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, my friend Spencer said he would kill a man to get his hands on a ticket. Five years later, Celebration Day captures the once in a lifetime performance in pristine audio quality for those who missed out. Robert […]
Posted inArts + Music
Bass in your face
Every band, whether they like it or not, needs a gimmick. So when bassist/vocalist Kyle McDonald started his new project, a melodic doom-metal outfit known as Shevil, he knew he wanted it to have a sound like no other. Originally fronted by McDonald, bassist Shaun Crawford and drummer Errol Girvan, their initial demos caught the […]
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Doomed’s day
Three years ago, it felt like the end of the world for drummer Scott Tiller. His band hadn’t practiced in weeks, his appendix had burst, and on top of all that, he still couldn’t find a name for his new group. “We just wanted to get things going and it seemed like nothing was going […]