We’ve already trumpeted news of this event a few times, but it bears repeating: there’s a mighty fine SXSW sendoff show going on tonight with your favorite bands – Dog Day, Duzheknew, Secret Colours and Cousins. There is a suggested $10 donation at the door to help the bands allay their travel costs, and you […]
HPX
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Pop Explosion Night 5: Wreckage
Saturday morning, I figured I was pretty much a goner. Still in last night’s clothes, my eyes were crusted with shame and indifference. A pair of hands pulled me out of bed and we staggered to the Just Friends Brunch to find out ALL THE FOOD WAS GONE. At 11am. Great news for the brunch […]
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Pop Explosion Night Four: Friday, Die-Day
Friday featured my good friend Sleep. My cat concurred (and conquered): so groggy…. Then it was time for some P-I-Z-Z-A: my brother stepped out of ’94 with PIZZA! And some Cold Warps, who were perfect. Paul Hammond was all like “Whatever”, they played some Ramones and there was lots of “ooohs” inserted craftily in the […]
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Pop Explosion Night Three: G-Dogs and Sombreros
I am still reeling from the last three days while simultaneously coming off of a bit of depression. A red shiny wristband is lying on the floor, there are gross earplugs everywhere, my house is messy and smells like Yoohoo and beer and my cat is suffering a mighty comedown after three days of being […]
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HPX Day Two: Bloody Wednesday
It’s already at that point in ‘Splode Week 2010 where you start to lose track of what you saw and where you went. I actually had to take a look at my hand and use all the residual stamps and stuff to figure out what happened first next last etc. It’s like a road map […]
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HPX spotlight: Sloan performs Twice Removed
It’s easy to forget, now, how long it took Sloan’s sophomore jinx-defying classic to find its audience. Before Napster—before Netscape version one, even—Sloan zigged when they were supposed to zag, and delivered the wrong record to their record-label masters. There was no World Wide Web to fall back on, no Plan B to end-run the […]
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Halifax Pop Explosion on parade
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21 Tasseomancy The Company House, 10pm, $10 Sisters Sari and Romy Lightman play the Pop Explosion in mid-transformation. They’ve already changed their band name from Ghost Bees to Tasseomancy, the title of their excellent 2008 release. The changes are going deeper, explains Sari Lightman by email: “We’re focused on developing our skills as […]
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Brunching with Just Friends
Yesterday’s gone, you’re hung over and in need of a refuel before the last Pop Explosion night—all signs point to the Just Friends brunch, which’ll fill you up with food prepared and served by the multi-talented musicians. Laura Peek & The Winning Hearts, Hymm and Brent Randall will all be doing their own sets, as […]
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Eeny, meeny, miny, Pop
Three days left. Fifteen venues. A shitton of bands. The sum: too many choices to be made in the next 72 hours. If spontaneity’s your thing, tuck this geographical list of bar-only Halifax Pop Explosion venues (there are nine) in your pocket today, so that when you—or someone you know—-inevitably arrives at the Paragon at […]
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HPX spotlight: The Hold Steady
If The Hold Steady are not America’s greatest rock band—and there’s a case to be made for it—they’re certainly its most deceptively great one. A casual listener may wonder why their five albums of seemingly familiar power chords and piano histrionics have earned such cultish devotion. Sure, the band’s ability to suture the punk/classic rock […]
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HPX spotlight: Radio Radio
Radio Radio shows must produce two by-products, “sweat and smiles,” according to Gabriel Louis Bernard Malenfant, one of three members of the band (along with Alexandre Arthur Bilodeau and Jacques Alphonse Doucet). Much has been made of Radio Radio’s Acadian identity. The three hail from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The bio on their label […]
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HPX spotlight: Tokyo Police Club
In 2006, Tokyo Police Club’s A Lesson in Crime EP—16 minutes of speedy, punchy indie rock gold—quickly made the Newmarket, Ontario, foursome one of North America’s hottest buzz bands. Four years later, the harsh internet hype cycle having moved on, the band has been able to record and tour its excellent second album, Champ, on […]
