JupiterReign is having a year to remember. Eight months on from releasing her debut Intergalactic EP, the soft-spoken North Preston R&B artist—otherwise known as Thaydra Gray—is enjoying a star-touched moment of her own: The 27-year-old is in the running for four African Nova Scotian Music Association Awards, including Rising Star and Artist of the Year. […]
Music
The best coverage of local arts & entertainment news in Halifax
Halifax’s Leanne Hoffman embraces fear and risk on the expansive The Text Collector LP
Leanne Hoffman is not short on ambition. The Halifax singer-songwriter’s latest project, the dazzlingly pop-fuelled The Text Collector, is far from a conventional 15-song LP: Not only has Hoffman accompanied her album’s release with a poetry book—365 entries over the course of a single year—but the 31-year-old artist has also turned each of her songs […]
Daniel James McFadyen’s Songs to Show Your Friends lives up to its billing
Picture yourself under the night sky at Kejimkujik, staring up at a blanket of stars as bright as the campfire warming your feet. That’s the feeling of listening to Daniel James McFadyen’s “Find My Way to You,” the latest single off his forthcoming Songs to Show Your Friends EP. The Hortonville, NS-based indie folk artist […]
Tim Baker announces new EP, pair of Halifax shows in December
One of Atlantic Canada’s favourite balladeers is ready to hit the road this fall—and tickets are already flying for his two Halifax shows. St. John’s, NL-based singer-songwriter Tim Baker is gearing up for the release of his newest EP, Along the Mountain Road. The five-track project is due Oct. 20, 2023 via End Times Music. […]
Everything you need to know about Halifax’s 2023 Hopscotch Festival
One of the buzziest groups in alt-rap is coming to Halifax’s Hopscotch Festival this year. Grammy-nominated duo EARTHGANG, who first made a splash when they signed to J Cole’s Dreamville Records in 2016, are performing at the Light House Arts Centre on Sept. 21. Along with Los Angeles-based rapper-producer The Alchemist, they make up the […]
Every big show happening in Halifax (and beyond) in September 2023
September’s arrival brings more than just fall colours and hurricane weather: From the return of the Halifax Fringe Festival to Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Daniel Lanois live in concert to Jann Arden headlining a big-ticket show at the Halifax Convention Centre, there’s plenty to see and do in the last weeks of summer. Get ready […]
Joel Plaskett catches the campfire spirit with “Hey Moon”
“Hey Moon,” Halifax rock troubadour Joel Plaskett asks on his latest single, “are you full yet?” It’s a simple line, but the kind of deft songwriting touch the 48-year-old has built his career on, ever since breaking out in the 1990s as part of the alt-rock band Thrush Hermit. Described as “inspired by the memories […]
Rich Aucoin wants you to feature on his next album
So well-earned is Halifax alt-pop artist Rich Aucoin’s “nicest guy in music” reputation that when The Coast reaches him by phone on a late August morning, he’s helping a friend jumpstart their car. The same Polaris and Juno-nominated artist who once toured across Canada by bicycle to raise money for Childhood Cancer Canada—and blogged about […]
Halifax’s Maggie Andrew is bringing alt-pop to new heights
It’s the build-up to Crescendo Fest, Halifax’s new music festival “designed to turn up the volume on Black music artists,” and Maggie Andrew is enjoying what might be some of her last days of relative anonymity. On Saturday, Aug. 5, the 24-year-old from Fall River, NS, is set to perform alongside the likes of Canadian […]
Michie Mee headlines Crescendo, Halifax’s new all-Black music festival
Canadian hip hop royalty comes to Halifax next weekend. Rapper and actor Michie Mee—considered one of the genre’s pioneers in Canada, after rising to fame in Toronto’s hip hop scene in the 1980s and 1990s—is set to headline a new festival celebrating Black music in Nova Scotia. Crescendo Fest is a two-day event “designed to […]
Every big show coming to Halifax in 2023
This year is over now, but we’re always keen to hear about any shows happening locally at any point in the future, so always let us know by emailing details to concerts@thecoast.ca. PAST 2023 SHOWS APRIL Gerry Dee, April 5, Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, tickets $49.50 – $85.50 [Comedy] Chris De Burgh, April 6, Scotiabank Centre, […]
This Halifax band almost broke up due to burnout. Instead, they’re launching a triumphant comeback this Saturday at The Marquee.
If Justin Murphy—front person of Halifax indie rock band Walrus—feels a bit reverent when he takes The Marquee stage this July 8, it’ll be hard to blame him. Someone a bit more prone to cheesiness might even pinch themselves (though that feels out-of-character for Murphy’s brand of north end irony). See, it isn’t just the […]

