Best New Artist Juno nominee Martha Wainwright walks down the streets of Austin, Texas, cellphone in hand, drifting among the thousands of music fans and industry types congregated for the granddaddy of music festivals, South by Southwest. “Oh wait, I just walked by…” Her voice is suddenly muffled by angry guitars. She says, laughing, “I […]
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Juggling Juno
Halifax on ParadeThursday in Grand Parade, 5:30pm with Garrett Mason, Jimmy Rankin, Joel Plaskett, Matt Mays and El Torpedo and The Trews Now that you’ve had time to get your Juno fever under control—lots of sleeping, lots of (alcoholic) fluids, lots of headphones—and realized that this giant multi-million dollar national event is mostly pay-to-play, you […]
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Nickelbash
ALBUM OF THE YEARMichael Bublé, It’s Time (143/Reprise)Diana Krall, Christmas Songs (Verve)Kalan Porter, 219 Days (ViK)Nickelback, All The Right Reasons (EMI)Rex Goudie, Under The Lights (SonyBMG) Michael Catano: I raised money for CKDU FM by auctioning off a chance to smash a copy of All the Right Reasons into pieces live on the radio. I […]
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It’s all your fault
The biggest question on your mind through these fevered, Juno-drenched weeks—not, “How did they get Coldplay?” not, “Why is Coldplay here?” not, “Will Gwyneth come?”—has doubtless been, “How the fuck did Diana Krall’s Christmas album get five nominations?” Well see, it’s like this. The nominees in the biggest categories, the ones you will see on […]
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Canadian Music speak
Jesse F. Keeler Death from above 1979/ MSTRKRFT Favourite Canadian song of the year: Metric, “Monster Hospital”Favourite Canadian album of the year: AIDS Wolf, The LovversOn the Junos: I was nominated personally for best design but lost to a really ugly record cover. Oh well. Who will win in the future?: Seripop…and they should keep […]
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Succeeder
February 3, 2005 Kathleen Edwards calls from home in Toronto. She hates it there. She moved to the city for love, from Wakefield, Quebec, to live with her guitarist and new husband, Colin Cripps. Lately she’d been coming around. But then. “Some asshole backed into me in a parking lot and left!” she says, like […]
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Mover, shaker
Bono wears a token given to him by the late Pope John Paul II, while Kanye walks with Jesus. Musicians who publicly acknowledge their faith don’t face a flogging in album sales, yet even high rollers would have lost a few greenbacks predicting the popularity of Hasidic beat-boxer and reggae star Matisyahu, playing at the […]
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Family business
In a world where everyone’s cousin is in a garage band and their roommate is a DJ, music alone is not enough. Every act is searching for the elusive hook that will separate it from the crowd. For Akron/Family, finding theirs has been a mixed blessing. But no one ever said starting your own religion […]
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Into the north
Since last year, popular north end venues such as Gus’ Pub and North End Pub have increased their band bookings and live shows, not to mention their revenue. A year ago, Jessica Whyte, Christian Johnston and David Ewenson organized Halifax’s first North by North End music and art festival. With the festival’s eagerly anticipated sequel […]
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The Friendz giant
After years of success, turmoil, multiple projects and occupations, The Super Friendz have kept it together. They’re back in the studio, recording their fourth full-length album, their first in more than three years. They will unveil some of their new songs on March 11 at the Grawood. “Basically, we were going to play a show […]
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Boobie trap
Only at a Mötley Crüe after-party would this moment be possible. Without any warning, two breasts flash before my eyes, followed by an ear-piercing shriek. “Vince Neil just signed our boobs!” scream the two women, holding their bras open for anyone at the nightclub to see. A crowd mobs Vince Neil for autographs and high […]
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The real McKiel
Jon McKiel personifies what is known in music writer parlance as “unassuming.” In conversation the word is attached to someone or something modest, but in pages such as these, unassuming means quiet, shy and, to pull another favourite from the lexicon, enigmatic. Translation: Dude is humble. McKiel, who came out of nowhere to be voted […]
