Feature

Animal collectors: The Maynards new album, Date and Destroy, “leaves” the competition behind. When you go on a date with The Maynards, they pick you up at the door. The Maynards actually ring my doorbell—no honking from the curb or impatient text messages from this band. At first impression, you’ll probably think, like me, that […]

Borne from a messy love-in between hip-hop, techno, R&B and dance hall, the “yet-to-be-titled” street bass is the latest subgenre to explode on the world’s enlightened dance floors. Not only does this movement have its trademark sounds and tempos, it has its trademark players. Instead of the DJ, street bass nights feature producers as performers, […]

Driving through New Glasgow on the Trans-Canada Highway, you don’t see much evidence of a booming music town. It’s certainly pretty looking, what with that river and plentiful greenery surrounding it. Don’t be fooled, though: New Glasgow rocks. There’s the wildly successful New Glasgow Music Jubilee happening every summer along with a plethora of venues […]

Feist is big. Like Sesame Street huge—she appeared on the show this year for a monsterish countdown. Sometimes when musicians reach household-name status, it’s harder to reach them. But we got hold of Feist by email surrounded by her journal, a Steinbeck book, duct tape, a bag of Arctic vegetation, whiskey flask, phone bill and […]

Halloween may be over, but if you’re still looking for scary music, The Creeps are here to regale you with songs about stalkers and serial killers this Saturday. Though they’ve been playing since 1999, this is the Ottawa punk trio’s first Halifax appearance. Playing catchy pop-punk with a decidedly dark slant, their music has garnered […]

Life, love and art are all comprised of chance encounters. Some may call it a stroke of luck, a brush with fate or the charting of time, but Jill Barber knows better. It’s all fated by chances. It was this sort of conviction that originally led the burgeoning romantic to Halifax over four years ago. […]

Bedrooms are often a place of reflection—the location that bookends the day. Stars’ Polaris Prize-nominated album, In Our Bedroom After the War, has kept the band on tour for the past year and a half, sleeping whenever and wherever they can. Since their show on Citadel Hill this past summer they’ve released Sad Robots EP […]

The last time Trans AM played Halifax, as a part of the Halifax Pop Explosion in 1997, they placed duct tape over the names of their keyboards and synths to the chagrin of local gear heads. Making nerds sweat once again, they released the poorly received T.A. in 2001. The album, which featured vocals on […]

Attics are often one of the most neglected places in a house. At best, they become storage spaces for belongings a person can live without but aren’t ready to part with. Otherwise they just become empty crawl spaces. The attic of 6015 Willow Street has had a pretty intriguing existence up until now. There’s a […]

Sure it does. Like “poo,” the word “goo” provokes giggles. Affixed to a jazz band, “goo” may just as easily provoke giddy excitement for music fans. Really. Goo! is Canadian jazz bassist Graig Earle’s baby. Earle, who’s gigged with former Shuffle Demon Richard Underhill, jazz vocalist Denzal Sinclaire, trumpeter Kevin Turcotte and others, moved to […]

Thursday Spiral Beach St. Matthew’s Church (1479 Barrington) 8pm, $15 Toronto’s Spiral Beach play with a twinkle in their eye, youthful abandon and confidence well beyond their 20-and-change years. Their show with Polaris Award-noms Two Hours Traffic may just be the sleeper of this year’s Pop Explosion. “We’ve been playing together for almost six years […]