Feature

Ray Bonneville likes his space. “There is nothing quite like being out here on the open road; the fresh air, rolling countrysides, big sky…it all feels like home to me,” he says. “And here in the Maritimes, there’s plenty of that to make me feel like I belong.” Speaking from his hotel room in Lunenburg […]

Acclaimed guitarist Juan De Marcos Gonzalez brings his Cuban music renaissance to the Maritimes this week. In 1996, he helped introduce himself and some of his fellow Cubans musicians to the world. His collective, the Buena Vista Social Club, sold 12 million copies worldwide, featuring the best and most well known Cuban artists, playing traditional […]

* Stats do not include September’s launch party. Margin of error depends on unpredictable border guards, weather, double bookings, theft and any other catastrophe than can befall a band and make it miss a show. Total bands playing: 112 Local representation: 39 (Be Bad, The Beginners, Broken Deer, Caledonia, Die Brucke, Dog Day, Double A, […]

It’s appropriate that Bruce Cockburn recorded his 29th album, Life Short Call Now, at National Treasures’ Studio, at Puck’s Farm, about a half-hour north of Toronto since he enlisted the vocal help of treasures-in-waiting Ron Sexsmith, Damhnait Doyle and Hawksley Workman (who has said Cockburn is the reason he began singing), and uncompromising US political […]

Pop Montreal is one of Canada’s best music festivals for discovering and appreciating what is going on with this “independent music” stuff everyone’s talking about. This year’s festival had more than 200 acts spread over the five days of October 4 to 8 at 35 venues, most close together and many of the shows were […]

No one wants to write about the happy band. The one that seems to get along, has enthusiasm for touring and the unshaken hope for the future success of their music. Where’s the scandal? The road weariness? The ego-battles? That’s the stuff that makes for a really gripping story. This doesn’t appear to be the […]

The cogswell street home of Z103’s studios is buzzing with activity prior to the arrival of the participants of today’s meet-and-greet. The walls are lined with promo posters. A DJ spins R&B tracks in the corner. Plates of chips are stacked and distributed throughout the room. Coming and going at a frenzied pace are a […]

In the history of popular music, only a small percentage of performers have left behind a memorable body of work. While there are a few artists, albums and singles considered classic, most recorded music is inevitably lost in time, relegated to dusty attics, mouldy basements, or, if lucky, the occasional spin on the oldies station. […]

“It’s going to be very acoustic,” says Sarah Harmer, calling from her home just outside Kingston, Ontario. “I’m playing with my band, it will be more like a kitchen-party tour, not much electric, with a clarinet, accordion, mandolin and stand-up bass. We’ll be playing a lot of songs from my latest record.” Harmer hits the […]