The Magnetic FieldsDistortionNonsuch RecordsThe Magnetic Fields’ Distortion continues frontman Stephin Merritt’s penchant for aptly titled albums. But, unlike 69 Love Songs, i and The Charm of the Highway Strip, Merritt’s latest owes its name not to lyrical content but to the wall of white noise pinning up his brilliantly blunt lyrics. Merritt credits The Jesus […]
Mike Landry
Posted inArts + Music
A beautiful mind
Stacey Ho has always dreamed of impossible things. But nothing interesting happens to her. Maybe it’s because she’s too rational. Maybe she doesn’t have faith. The only impossible thing she can remember doing is predicting the cover of her kindergarten yearbook. So, Ho uses art to create the extraordinary world she wishes she could see. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Class act
After her classmates had filed out of their grade nine and 10 music class in an adolescent ruckus, Shannon O’Toole poked her head back into Mal Kazi’s classroom. With her head down and hair in her eyes, she darted in, handing Kazi a well-folded piece of paper. He began to unfold it, but O’Toole scolded […]
Posted inArts + Music
Devendra Banhart
Devendra BanhartSmokey Rolls Down Thunder CanyonXLThe effect of Devendra Banhart’s full-time band on the nu-folk singer-songwriter’s music is like steroids on Barry Bonds’ swing. On Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon Banhart tackles a Zappa list of genre eccentricities and orchestration. One highlight is the delightful doo-wop tune “Shaboom Shalom.” But the quintessential track is “Seahorse”: […]
Posted inArts + Music
Ox
OxAmerican Lo Fi weeworkFans of Vancouver alt-country band Ox will be pleasantly surprised by this sophomore effort. The typical-country acoustic guitar and quaint vocals are replaced with minimalist, reverb-rich distorted electric guitar and gritty vocals. “Sugar Cane” is heartbreakingly melancholic thanks to this change—reminiscent of “Wavering” from Dust Bowl Revival. Inspired by life on the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Construction and Deconstruction
Construction and DeconstructionHomebodiesIndependentIt’s helpful to keep the idea of construction and deconstruction in mind when listening to Homebodies. The “songwriting band-team (!)” of David Trenaman and Colleen Collins’s debut album is 15 simple, lightly instrumented, beautifully catchy pop songs about the quirky thoughts that come from living in rural Nova Scotia. That’s the construction part. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The end of their rope
What if you held an S&M party and no one came? That’s exactly what happened to Tightrope, Halifax’s first leather and denim gay brotherhood society (founded in 1990). Last month they shelled out $100 for four rooms at Seadogs to use after a general meeting to plan their 2008 events. It would end up being […]
Posted inArts + Music
Graphic Novel Zombies Calling Debuts
On the drawing table, amid the inking brushes, pencils and sketches of zombies about to be diced to pieces by a machete-wielding young girl, is a pink and black Power Puff Girls pencil case. A self-proclaimed action/urban adventure geek, local comic artist Faith Erin Hicks isn’t much into typically girly things. But she says her […]
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New waves
While you read, have a listen to our Nine months ago, i see rowboats held an emergency meeting. They had recently played their first show and were still without a name. Their second show was coming up and they didn’t want to be listed as “and TBA” again. The band hunkered down in fiddler Luke […]
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Hard copy
At the opening reception for his solo show at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, internationally acclaimed, contemporary Atlantic Canadian ceramist Léopold Foulem stood in front of the puzzled crowd defending his ceramics as art. “Shouldn’t a teapot be able to hold tea?” asked a woman near the back. “Yeah, they do have a purpose. […]
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Eastern trails
Less than two years ago OneLight Theatre was staging plays behind a Persian grocery on Gottingen Street in a small space called The Crib. Now they have a downtown office across from Neptune Theatre. From their windows they can easily read Neptune Studio’s marquee: “OneLight Theatre’s The Veil. Production sponsored by Tabrizi Oriental Rugs, Oct […]
Posted inLifestyle
Mixed identity
Tannaya Hantelman is a rare breed. Just ask her how many women are like her in Atlantic Canada. “Doing what I do?” she says, laughing and playing with the hair elastic around her wrist. “Just me.” At 6:30am, while you were probably just getting up, she was in spin class. Then, while you were having […]
