How often does Owen Meany’s Batting Stance’s Daniel Walker have to explain his band’s name? “Ninety percent of the time,” he estimates. “People either aren’t familiar with the book”—John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany—”or recognize the name but don’t know why.” While his band will be playing Friday at In the Dead of Winter […]
Music Festivals
Posted inArts + Music
Heat up with the Cold Smoke festival
Just as the weather finally turns to winter, Halifax’s favourite reggae band, Dub Kartel, has lined up the third annual Cold Smoke festival. This kick-ass one-day fest will be setting fire to The Seahorse and the Marquee’s stages to keep you hot-hot-hot. Starting Saturday night, Cold Smoke will showcase some of the best bands from […]
Posted inArts + Music
Yarmouth is ready to play for Nova Scotia Music Week
Fill up a van with your closest friends, burn some CDs (people still do that, right?) and hit the road. This weekend, November 5-8, east coasters will roll into Yarmouth from all over for the annual Nova Scotia Music Week. The fest is two-fold: concerts and conferences neatly packaged into one big week of musical […]
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Jazz Cartier’s rising star
2015 has been busy for Toronto’s Jaye Adams, best known by his alias Jazz Cartier. His debut album, Marauding in Paradise, came out in April. It later made the Polaris Prize longlist. Adams’ Pop Explosion performance—opening for Travi$ $cott at the Forum Multi-purpose Centre—will be his first show in town. He says he’s excited to […]
Posted inArts + Music
Jean Grae
Since the mid-1990s, Jean Grae has been one of the most prolific female MCs in the game, a mogul as head of her company KAGD, an inspiring role model and a fashion icon. Born in South Africa and raised in New York City, where she still lives, Grae has rapped and produced as an independent […]
Posted inArts + Music
Jean Grae thrives on creative control
Since the mid-1990s, Jean Grae has been one of the most prolific female MCs in the game, a mogul as head of her company KAGD, an inspiring role model and a fashion icon. Born in South Africa and raised in New York City, where she still lives, Grae has rapped and produced as an independent […]
Posted inArts + Music
We’ll always have Alvvays
East coast ex-pats Alvvays are still riding a wave of increasing success and recognition for their self-titled, debut album, released this past July. Alvvays is an album that exhibits a somewhat practical view of love: singer and guitarist Molly Rankin’s lyrical narratives feel romantic and rosy—especially set against the band’s reverby rattle—but they’re told through […]
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Rich Aucoin
Four years ago, Rich Aucoin put on one of HPX’s most memorable shows: a full-record performance of his just-released album We’re All Dying to Live at St. Matthew’s Church, featuring nearly 80 musicians and vocalists on-stage. Now he’s set to one-up that count this year with the help of Symphony Nova Scotia. “I think the […]
Posted inArts + Music
“People tend to get wild at our gigs”
Montreal’s Black Tiger Sex Machine brings ferocious EDM to Halifax with LED tiger masks, a dynamic light show and powerful dance jams. “People tend to get really wild at our gigs,” say the tigers. “We’re inspired by Daft Punk and Justice. We wanted our shows to have a strong visual component that would blow people’s […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rich Aucoin’s really REALLY big show with the Symphony
Four years ago, Rich Aucoin put on one of HPX’s most memorable shows: a full-record performance of his just-released album We’re All Dying to Live at St. Matthew’s Church, featuring nearly 80 musicians and vocalists on-stage. Now he’s set to one-up that count this year with the help of Symphony Nova Scotia. “I think the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Tune in to The Weather Station
If intricate, ethereal folk music sung in a soulful, husky voice is your thing, look no further than Toronto-based Tamara Lindeman, aka The Weather Station. She’s a Pop Explosion veteran, having played the fest in previous years both as The Weather Station, an act she formed in 2006, and with bands The Bruce Peninsula and […]
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Steve Maloney and the Wandering Kind
If you’ve ever been to St. John’s, Newfoundland, you’ll know that the rocky coastal town can be as unforgiving as it is welcoming. This dichotomy informs the folk songs of Steve Maloney and The Wandering Kind: “There’s a mystical quality to some parts of town,” says Maloney. “The weather isn’t perfect, but I find that […]
