Tenille Goodspeed still remembers her first time on the Halifax Jazz Festival’s main stage. At age 13, the lifelong choral singer and (eventual) music industry pro was part of a “small jazz group” called Generation Jazz, and they were enjoying their first taste of the spotlight. “It was a big moment for my 13-year-old self,” […]
Arts + Music
Live theatre, art exhibits, comedy, literary, spoken word – The Coast guide to Halifax and Dartmouth, NS . The downtown, local arts scene – plays, writers, actors, artists and performers. Painting, sculpture, photography, stand-up, stage.
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How a trip to Antarctica offered the perfect studio space for Rich Aucoin’s next album
Most days, when Halifax alt-pop artist Rich Aucoin isn’t touring, the two-time JUNO nominee is tinkering with sounds in his basement apartment and—as he puts it in a phone call with The Coast—“staring off at the wall.” It’s been a good formula for the 40-year-old producer: The routine helped him win a pair of ECMA […]
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How City and Colour’s new album helped Dallas Green process unimaginable grief
Editor’s note: A version of this story first appeared in The Georgia Straight, The Coast’s Vancouver-based sibling publication, before City and Colour played on the west coast in early February. “I think I’ve just gotten better at singing,” muses Dallas Green. The man behind indie folk and rock outfit City and Colour’s voice has changed over […]
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Here are all your Halifax nominees for the 2024 JUNO Awards
When the JUNO Awards return to Halifax on Mar. 24, 2024, there will be a healthy dose of homegrown talent in the running for silverware. Six current and former Haligonians are up for JUNOs at the annual Canadian music industry awards ceremony: Reggae artist Jah’Mila, indie-electronic act Rich Aucoin, classical soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan, […]
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Canada’s longest-running all-Black comedy tour visits Halifax—and it’s a must-see
Rodney Ramsey has been a stand-up comedian for more than 20 years. A co-creator of the Unknown Comedy Club, a first-of-its-kind virtual showcase for Canadian comics, he has appeared on Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud network, closed out a BBC World Service comedy special and starred in CBC’s Absofreakinglutely—a round-up of some of Montreal’s funniest […]
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6 things to do in Halifax this weekend (Feb. 2-4, 2024)
February is here, which means two things in Halifax: Snow and rain. Thankfully, our fine Atlantic peninsula has enough going on through the dreary months to tide things over until Shubenacadie Sam—or one of his secret understudies—says spring is on its way. Related This weekend is no different, with no less than seven (!!!) noteworthy […]
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Death From Above 1979 to play Light House Arts Centre in May
One of Canada’s best-known rock duos will reunite for a string of Maritime shows this May. Toronto dance-punk rockers Death From Above 1979 (bassist Jesse Keeler and drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger) will perform in Moncton, Halifax and Charlottetown between May 24-26. The tour visits Halifax’s Light House Arts Centre on May 25. Keeler and Grainger are […]
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Halifax artist Glen McMinn’s solo exhibition is a hockey-lover’s dream—and much more, too
Glen McMinn was 52 years old and feeling restless. Despite a thriving career as the founding partner and creative director of Halifax design firm Breakhouse, instead of enjoying his success, he found himself counting down the days, weeks and months until he would turn 64. The number chased him like a hangover in those years: […]
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Customer Service’s new video for “Grad Day” is a punk rock triumph
In the earliest days of the 2000s, pop punk had something akin to a renaissance. Canadian bands like Sum 41, Treble Charger and Gob were at the peak of their powers—not just in terms of output, but in crossover appeal: Albums like All Killer No Filler, Wide Awake Bored and The World According to Gob […]
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Wintersleep returns to Marquee Ballroom this May
It’s been five years since indie rockers Wintersleep have been onstage together in Halifax. That hiatus ends May 11, when the JUNO award winners behind “Weighty Ghost” and “Amerika” take to the stage at the Marquee Ballroom. The band that got their start in Halifax in the early 2000s—playing the likes of the Seahorse Tavern […]
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See all the nominees for the 2024 East Coast Music Awards
The full list of nominees is here for the 2024 East Coast Music Awards, and Halifax is well-represented. A total of 48 different local artists, engineers, media personalities and venues made the shortlist for the annual celebration highlighting the best music from the East Coast. That includes six nominations for homegrown singer-songwriter Jenn Grant, on […]
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Halifax singer-songwriter Mat Elliott’s debut single is a dream-synth trip
Take the laid-back, bassline-riding funk of Tom Misch and sprinkle in a little psychedelic dreamwave for good measure: That’s the feeling you’ll get from Mat Elliott’s new single, “Two Years.” It’s a precursor to the Halifax-based singer-songwriter’s debut EP, South Endings, set for release in April. A project Elliott describes to The Coast as “a […]
