Best Radio Station
CKDU CKDU has beaten out some major bandwidth in their win for Best Local Radio Station. From its humble beginnings in 1964 as a radio club, the station has developed into a volunteer-run, 24-hour station (found at 97.5FM). “Our mandate is to provide an alternative on the radio,” says music director Jessica Whyte. “We don’t…
Best Tour You Wish Came To Halifax
U2/Vans Warped Tour It was a tie this year for what show you wanted to see more, U2 or Vans Warped Tour. While a U2 show coming here is about as likely as commercial success for Roland Blinn, all the other shows were, at one time, under consideration by Gigantic Entertainment’s Waye Mason. Here’s the…
Best Independent Record Label
Dependent Music One look at the roster and it’s easy to see why Dependent Music takes this award for the second year in a row. Excellent releases by Jill Barber, heavy meadows, Kary and most recently the Remains of Brian Borcherdt and Wintersleep stacks this 10-year-old collective next to any major label without losing sight…
Best Female Solo Artist
Jill Barber Jill Barber would really like it if people stopped calling her a girl. Well, not quite. But as much as she is gracious for the best female award for the second year in a row, she would rather win an award for, say, Best Rocker in High Heels. “I’m kind of sick of…
Best-looking Local Band
Shameless It takes a lot to look good, especially while ripping through “American Pie” an hour and a half into a two-hour set. But not for Shameless, who also took home Best Cover Band. “It’s a lot of hair gel,” lead singer Shawn Birt jokes. “I can see the Vidal Sassoon endorsement coming. No, just…
Best Male Solo Artist
Joel Plaskett “It’s harder for me to get out to shows,” says Joel Plaskett, this year’s winner for both Best Canadian and Best Local Male Musician. “I still really want to be part of the community, but I have to travel so much that it’s difficult.” Whether through his days at the helm of Thrush…
Best Local Video
Wintersleep, “Sore” According to the Ghostmilk Studios website, Wintersleep’s first video from their first self-titled full-length is about “a troubled young bride as she toils with her inner demons…creepy.” The guys shot the surreal video in Toronto in one long, 16-hour day with Ghostmilk’s Sean Wainsteim, part of the same studio that helped shoot the…
Best Canadian Solo Male
Joel Plaskett “It’s harder for me to get out to shows,” says Joel Plaskett, this year’s winner for both Best Canadian and Best Local Male Musician. “I still really want to be part of the community, but I have to travel so much that it’s difficult.” Whether through his days at the helm of Thrush…
Best Local Album Artwork
Kary, Light Kary lead singer and guitarist Paul Murphy actually completed the artwork for Light three years ago, but didn’t show his bandmates until the album was nearly completed. “It was sort of a gaudy-looking drawing that has this image that is a picture of a sun,” Murphy says of the album cover. “It’s a…
Best Local Band
Wintersleep Don’t think the multiple wins in the Best of Music poll will go to Wintersleep’s collective head. Until they get a tour bus, that is. “What keeps us humble? Crawling over our gear to get into our 15-year-old mini-van that has 350,000 kilometres on it and drive it from gig to gig,” says bassist…
Best Karaoke Host
Mimi Andriopoulos The first rule of karaoke at Bearly’s is you don’t have to be able to sing to do karaoke. “Singing talent isn’t necessarily number one,” say Mimi Andriopoulos, host of the Coast award-winning karaoke on Wednesday night. “People think it is, but it’s not important. Some people get up there and act like…
Best Local Album
Kary, Light (Dependent) Apparently Paul Murphy just doesn’t believe in sophomore slumps. Before leading Wintersleep on their widely acclaimed second offering, he fronted your choice for this year’s Best Local Album, Kary’s Light. The album is a dark and ethereal offering that submerges the listener into its combination of nightmare imagery, grinding riffs and crashing…
Best Local Venue
The Marquee Club This year’s winner for Best Local Venue is the famed Marquee Club. Founded in 1998, the club has been at the core of the live music scene ever since. But in the winter of 2004, the Marquee closed for over a month to overhaul both the building’s interior and the managerial staff.…
Heti games
Tucked away in an alley behind Toronto’s earthy Annex neighbourhood is The Green Room, a bohemian watering hole styled with worn couches, cheap beer and unreliable washrooms. It was on The Green Room’s bookshelves that writer Sheila Heti found her muse—a neglected copy of The Life of William Hickling Prescott, written in 1863 by Harvard…
Best Local Venue
The Marquee Club This year’s winner for Best Local Venue is the famed Marquee Club. Founded in 1998, the club has been at the core of the live music scene ever since. But in the winter of 2004, the Marquee closed for over a month to overhaul both the building’s interior and the managerial staff.…
Check up
Sania Dorey collects breakfast trays, makes beds, stocks supplies and delivers mail at the South Shore Hospital because she’s been told she’s over-qualified to be paid to do anything in a Nova Scotia hospital. Dorey and Heizer Marval, another physician who volunteers, are from opposite sides of the world—Russia and Venezuela—but both belong to a…
Best Local Show
Arcade Fire/the Holy Shroud/The Organ/Wax Mannequin, November 6, 2004 at The Marquee Club It was a night that included some of Canada’s most exciting and up-and-coming bands, several thoroughly disobeyed fire laws and Wax Mannequin. It was also the night that the Halifax Pop Explosion proved it’s still among Canada’s premiere musical events. Your choice…
Best Local DJ
Skratch Bastid The Bastid AKA Paul Murphy (not related to Wintersleep’s Murphy) won the honour that has been his since 2001—even though he moved to Montreal last July. That’s mostly due to his constant travels back to the city by the sea to throw down his turntable stylings. “It’s my favourite city in the world,”…
Best Music Festival
Halifax Pop Explosion Also sharing the award for best live show, the Halifax Pop Explosion proves once again that great bands about to blow up on the national and international stage will make the trip to Halifax. This is the third win in a row for the beloved HPX. “I think this year had a…
Best Local DJ
Skratch Bastid The Bastid AKA Paul Murphy (not related to Wintersleep’s Murphy) won the honour that has been his since 2001—even though he moved to Montreal last July. That’s mostly due to his constant travels back to the city by the sea to throw down his turntable stylings. “It’s my favourite city in the world,”…
Best Local Studio
Ultramagnetic (The Mullet) The legendary Mullet again takes top honours in the Best Local Studio category. Founded by Kevin Lewis and Charles Austin in 1997, Ultramagnetic was intended to be “a cheap and accessible place where people could do demos and quick recordings,” says Austin. The studio has quickly moved beyond this though, producing albums…
Best New Artist
The Stolen Minks With many of the elders in the scene having less and less time to fill the local stages, there is a real opportunity for a new generation of bands to make their mark. Out of the new acts vying for your attention, you’ve chosen rockabilly quartet The Stolen Minks as the band…
Best Canadian Female Musician
Sarah Harmer Harmer gained acclaim fronting famed Canadian rock band Weeping Tile in the mid-’90s. While the group had moderate success with the single “Cold Snap” and maintained a dedicated following, they called it quits in 1998. Harmer, who had already released the solo record Songs for Clem, quickly rose from the band’s wreckage to…
Best Local MC
Buck 65 Buck 65 AKA Rich Terfry furthered his local legend last year by hardly ever being here. The hip-hop beat poet has been on the road ever since he signed to Warner a few years back and when he does take a break, it’s mostly in Paris, writing books and choreographing and starring in…
Best Canadian Band
The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip is still at it, playing more sold-out arena gigs across the country than any other Canadian band, even if its record sales are nowhere near the band’s ’90s pinnacle. But the guys in the Hip can still rock out, as evidenced by the memorable, three-encore Metro Centre show last…
Best Single
Joel Plaskett, “Work Out Fine”/ The Pools, “Kickin” The Pools might not have the same name power as Dartmouth’s favourite resident, but the band has pulled in some major support in this year’s poll. Forming over two years ago, The Pools have been upping their stature of late with the recent release of their debut…
Best Canadian Single
k-os, “Crabbuckit” Sure, “Crabbuckit” is one of the catchiest songs of the year, but beneath the bouncy rhythm you will find a tale of a young man dealing with and moving past the negative feelings around him. “My first record was about how hip-hop is in the lost state and how I was so angry,”…
Best Cover Artist / Band
Shameless The dashing men of Shameless are definitely not ashamed to pick up their second award in as many years and not ashamed to get dirty doing it. The band is one of the hardest working in Halifax, playing over 200 shows last year.“Sometimes when you play so much, it just blends into one night,”…
Best Canadian Album
Arcade Fire, Funeral Like a Rumors for the indie-rock set, Arcade Fire’s Funeral became a common ground for music talk last year. Everyone had an opinion on whether it was as good as the hype or false sincerity sung by a Joel Plaskett imitator. No one, however, could deny the fact that the disc was…
Best Local Band Name
Sharp Like Knives Sharp Like Knives have claimed this year’s Best Local Band Name, just narrowly beating out Shameless. Well, a victory is still a victory, and this dance punk band’s name has been steadily spreading since their inception over a year ago. Formed by lead vocalist Paul Hammond and guitarist Greg Boone after the…
Best Canadian Video
k-os, “Crabbuckit” “Crabbuckit” is one of those songs that you can’t help but like. It all comes down to the bouncy killer bass riff, lifted from The Cure’s “Lovecats”’ who lifted it from Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack.” The video is just as good with super-vision sunglasses that see Star Wars-like monsters, a Nelly…
