Adria Young Coast writer since 2012 Adria Young, unofficial president of the imaginary Shotgun Jimmie Fan Club, is counting the days until Jimmie’s next album and *Come Cry with Me* by Daniel Romano. Sloan, Twice Removed Deluxe Edition (sloanmusic.com) By the second album of its career, Sloan achieved indie-rock pop perfection. A reissued vinyl box […]
Matthew Ritchie
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Modern men
After moving to Halifax three years ago, singer-songwriter Tom Terrell went about making friends in the city’s modest bluegrass and roots scene. Meeting a group of like-minded musicians eager to release an album, he formed The Modern Grass in November 2010 in the hopes of recording a one-off Christmas album. Holed up in Halifax’s Fort […]
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Kontravoid
The bastard by-product of an affair with Crystal Castles, ex-touring drummer Cam Findlay’s solo recording project Kontravoid mixes the desolate electronica of The Human League, while channeling a vocal prowess straight from the grave of Ian Curtis. On its self-titled debut, Kontravoid creates a sonic landscape filled with atmospheric synths and down-tempo drum machines. But […]
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Stacks of Wax
For recording artist Phyl La Ferriere, Quebec City may be a great place live, but it’s not the ideal city to make it as a musician. “I wouldn’t say it’s the right place to start a band,” La Ferriere says. So he left home and enrolled at Montreal’s Trebas Institute to study audio engineering. But […]
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Acres and Acres play with wide open spaces
Kris Pope and David Scholten had it figured out. After a botched attempt at forming a rock band in their mid-20s, the singer-songwriters got it right with Down with the Butterfly, an alt-rock four-piece that cemented the idea of being career musicians for both young artists. They toured across Canada, made 18-hour road trips to […]
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Sweet solitude
There’s only so much you can do when it’s just you and your guitar. So when it came time for Vancouver based singer-songwriter Hannah Georgas to record the follow up to her 2010 debut This is Good, she put down six strings in favour of 88 black and white keys. Sonically inspired by the likes […]
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Sky high
Gavin Gardner has a bad case of déjà vu. After touring extensively around North America on behalf of Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun, the ambitious third record from his roots-rock outfit The Wooden Sky, Gardner found himself on a five-week trip to Europe, pushing an album he’d spent nearly a year already […]
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Tame Impala
Australian psychedelic art-rockers Tame Impala return with Lonerism, a gloriously indulgent follow-up to 2010’s critically acclaimed Innerspeaker. Leaving behind the Yes-inspired daisy chains and vibrant King Crimson-esque guitar drudge of their debut, lead maestro Kevin Parker cranks the ambient textures on Lonerism even higher, using an array of layered vintage-synths and guitar reverb to flush […]
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Shadow Folk
Shadow Folk are shadowy folk indeed. The band’s website has no indication of who’s in the group, but most websites state its a quartet…maybe. A little bit of mystery is always appreciated in today’s age of information overload, and it’s the mystery that highlights the sonic beauty of the four-track debut, Green Window. The vocals […]
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Art rock
When you think of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, chances are music isn’t the first thing that pops into your mind. But two years ago when it came time to plan the school’s 125-year anniversary, it became apparent to Linda Hutchison, Director of University Relations, and Peter Wünsch, President of NSCAD’s Alumni […]
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Bones unburied
Filmmaker Stacy Peralta has been many things in his life. First, he was a professional skateboarder, getting worldwide acclaim for his freestyle and pool riding as one of the Z-Boys. In the ’80s, he became a visionary, co-founding Powell Peralta Skateboards and changing the face of the industry with the introduction of skate videos, advertising […]