Feature

Listen to “Good enough” by Rose Cousins If there is one artist who epitomizes the spirit of the East Coast Music Awards, it’s Rose Cousins. With humble beginnings in Prince Edward Island, then creative blossoming in Halifax, the 29-year-old singer-songwriter is a working artist who has chosen music as a career. She’s by no means […]

Make a Little Noise Joel Plaskett takes pride in the fact he’s a rocker. That’s obvious in the simple fact that he uses duct tape to connect his strap to his guitar. The whole singer-songwriter label chafes a little, despite the rousing reception his more acoustic record, La De Da, received on its release in […]

Listen to “Love Again” by David Myles David Myles demonstrates well the principle of rapid immersion—the brilliant experience of diving in fast and deep and coming up with golden, artistic expression. Growing up in Fredericton, he studied trumpet intensely, loving jazz in particular. A few years ago this musical mind was studying political science, with […]

This ain’t a scene, it’s a goddamned awards show and conference! And an alternative festival! And a bunch of in-stores, church gigs and casino shows! And 72 hours of jamming! And more drinking than those 3,200 pub-crawling lame-os could hope to accomplish in their Guinness-regulated time. Observe: Music Nova Scotia Stage The goal of this […]

At this time last year, the dead of winter wasn’t fucking around. Dropping into the middle of three of the coldest days of 2006, the inaugural In the Dead of Winter festival—packed full of more than 30 singing songwriters—brought out music lovers bundled to their eyes, glasses fogging in the sudden warmth of the Khyber […]

February has come with its usual tidings. The ice on the sidewalks has settled into a seemingly permanent residence as wind cuts through the city with the bite of a sandstorm. Workplaces are full of idle complacency as the realities of seasonal affective disorder and the mid-year break of primetime TV takes hold. The festive […]

Based on a 12-bar structure, blues music embodies a ballsy sense of catharsis, skilled inventiveness and an acute sense of musicianship. Often, blues lyrics are thickened with a sense of moody subjectivity, yet the rich melodies are a far cry from depressing, says Ottawa’s blues boy Steve Marriner, who rolls into town for a double […]

It has been almost 44 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream of a world without segregation, racism or poverty from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. He spoke of a day when people of all races would join together and sing of freedom. For the past five years, Eastern […]

A 20-year veteran of the independent music promotion business, Greg Clark is full of sage advice. “Never name your bar after a dead bird,” he warns, referring to one of his past ventures—a bar called Waldo’s. Named for the dead mynah bird from Twin Peaks, it is perhaps the least memorable of a long series […]

All anyone hears in the hip-hop scene lately is how much success Nova Scotia has had exporting artists to the rest of the country. Now Nova Scotian hip-hop fans get a chance to see what their neighbours to the west have to offer when the Good Times Tour kicks off at the Seahorse in Halifax […]

JANUARY The Joel Plaskett Emergency counts down the seconds (at the Marquee, as usual) leading up to a monumental year in Halifax music. For the Emergency, that will mean releasing its first DVD/CD Make a Little Noise on March 14, which yielded the single “Nowhere with You” that catapulted the trio to Canadian mainstream stardom. […]