“Zs has no peers really,” says Sam Hillmer, founder and tenor saxophonist of his Brooklyn-based experimental avant-garde ensemble (pronounced the American way, “zees”). “But there are really engaged audiences.” With Patrick Higgins and Greg Fox, Zs is a sonic experience that exceeds expectation, even though “expectation is the death of experience,” Hillmer says. With swelling […]
OBEY Convention
Posted inArts + Music
Art In Fest finds its range
Until the iconic Khyber Building on Barrington Street was closed in 2014, the Khyber Centre for the Arts served as headquarters for the OBEY Convention. Visual artists would create installations for the festival, like prismatic ceiling pyramids in the ballroom, or Mitchell Wiebe’s black-light paintings in the attic or poetry readings, poster sales and waffle […]
Posted inArts + Music
Art In Fest finds its range
Until the iconic Khyber Building on Barrington Street was closed in 2014, the Khyber Centre for the Arts served as headquarters for the OBEY Convention. Visual artists would create installations for the festival, like prismatic ceiling pyramids in the ballroom, or Mitchell Wiebe’s black-light paintings in the attic or poetry readings, poster sales and waffle […]
Posted inArts + Music
Fall in—your complete guide to OBEY Convention is here
In this, its ninth year, OBEY is bigger and more inclusive than ever. Along with the standard tightly curated collection of boundary pushing music shows and the Khyber’s Art In Fest running all weekend—Thursday, May 26 through Sunday, May 29—the festival features a new lecture series, the EverySeeker Symposium, plus a mandate to make more […]
Posted inArts + Music
Mykki Blanco, New Fries are coming to OBEY Convention
OBEY Convention just announced some of its headlining artists for the annual contemporary art and music festival from May 26 to May 29, which will include: “Underground rap and performance artist, Mykki Blanco; New York’s renowned avant-jazz futurists, Zs; Marie Davidson, Montreal’s bright light in dark minimal wave; Canada’s most transcendental metal outfit, Nadja; and New […]
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Music Festival
Gold Winner Halifax Pop Explosion Silver Winner Halifax Jazz Festival Bronze Winner Obey Convention With a full week of awesome music and comedy, Halifax Pop Explosion continues to be the city’s best music festival, an honour that executive director James Boyle doesn’t take for granted. “There are a lot of great events here. We get […]
Posted inArts + Music
Dark Arts: Matt Samways’ gothic lounge this Saturday night
“The more you sleep, the less you live. It’s pretty simple really,” says Matt Samways, electronic artist and the head of Halifax-based avant-garde label, Electric Voice Records. On Saturday night, Samways presents Sleep and Longevity, a multidisciplinary sensory-sound party at The Khyber (10pm, $5). With previous performances at Halifax’s outsider art festival OBEY Convention, Samways has shifted his […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
4 ways to fight Tuesday’s rain
1 It’s gloomy enough that a chill electronic track from local musician Wyon will make you feel just enough like you’re in a Sofia Coppola film. We just happen to have one right here. 2 Though gloomy weather has its upsides (cinematic atmosphere) the crocheted playable sculptures of Bridgetown, Nova Scotia’s Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam will […]
Posted inArts + Music
Some holy moments from OBEY Convention VIII
I think I died and lived again during the eighth OBEY Convention in Halifax last weekend. The annual meeting of contemporary music and art is one of the most thoughtfully curated festivals in the country, and it’s never been more inspiring or influential. Programmer Andrew Patterson told an audience that OBEY is designed to offer […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tuesday’s rundown: 9 things you need to know in Halifax today
1Needing this so badly on this Tuesday-feels-like-Monday-tomorrow-can’t-be-Wednesday-already. Maybe you do too? When Jerry Met Kendrick. 2Our question of the day comes from commenter mira230, who wonders if anyone out there remembers BB King playing Queen Elizabeth High School back in the ‘70s. “I cannot find any record of it online, but it happened. I was […]
Posted inArts + Music
OBEY Convention VIII initial lineup
The eighth OBEY Convention has announced an initial lineup of some of this year’s acts, with 21 more artists to be announced later this month. Taking place May 21-24, OBEY features contemporary and underground music and art and this year’s early lineup looks exciting. Great way to shake off winter’s cobwebs. Tickets to Peter Brötzmann […]
Posted inArts + Music
OBEY Convention VII early lineup announcement
Not merely content with a single music and art bonanza for their seventh year, Team OBEY has branched out like so many spring buds and created an entirely separate festival of visual art: Art In Fest. Art In Fest will accompany the OBEY Convention—”Atlantic Canada’s only festival of alternate realities for music and art”—this May […]
