Like so many creative rabbit holes, the idea behind Nick Schofield’s first ambient record, Water Sine, presented itself after dark. Schofield says Water Sine emerged out of a series of sleepless nights. Instead of battling his insomnia, Schofield embraced it—he wanted to harness the creative energy of the night and try a “more intuitive approach” […]
OBEY
OBEY XII: Zamani
Zamani w/Strange Froots Friday, May 31, 4pm George Dixon Centre Greenspace 2501 Gottingen Street free (all ages) It’s pouring rain outside, but Zamani Bernard-Millar’s home studio in Clayton Park is filled with the warmth of family and music. The up-and-coming 18-year-old R&B producer, songwriter and singer—who performs under a mononym, her first name—is about to […]
OBEY XII: Slaylor Moon
Sydney Koke, who has played with infamous Vancouver punks Shearing Pinx and rising rock trio The Courtneys, says she loves all sorts of music—but something keeps pulling her back to the weirder fringes of sound. “Experimental music is my first love,” she says. “My first band was a noise-rock band, and I really love post-punk […]
OBEY XII: Eartheater
As Eartheater, New York multi-instrumentalist Alexandra Drewchin creates lavish experimental songs rich with influences, sounds and references. Her music can be endlessly—rewardingly—analyzed: Songs match beautiful, delicate tones with shrieks, electronic muttering, mysterious bubbling. Being undefinable has defined Eartheater’s glorious output, and IRISIRI, her 2018 album, is a study in the complexities of the human voice, […]
OBEY XII: Tomoko Sauvage
Flutters, loops, scrapes, ripples, drips and bubbles create worlds of lush, meditative sound with the work of Tomoko Sauvage. Her compositions can agitate or calm, expand and pull focus. Born and raised in Yokohama, Sauvage moved to New York to study jazz piano and then to Paris, where she became interested in Indian music, specifically […]
OBEY Convention announces first wave of 2019 lineup
Promising “a four-day narrative of radical sounding, a forward-thinking festival like no other,” OBEY rings in year 12 from May 30 to June 2 in a host of venues around town. The date announcement also featured a teaser of its lineup, which includes New York’s Eartheater, who has a Robyn aesthetic and—according to the fest— […]
OBEY XI: Yohvn Blvck
Yohvn Blvck w/DIáSPORA Saturday, May 27, 2pm Seven Bays Bouldering, 2019 Gottingen Street free, all ages “Growing up in Antigua, there was never a place for anyone to express themselves in that shared manner. If anything, the closest thing to that was church—and that was a no,” says Edwin Hull with a laugh. “So I […]
OBEY XI: Science Project
Science Project Thursday, May 24, 10pm Garrison Brewery, 1149 Marginal Road $10 Cody Googoo has been prolific in the Halifax punk and noise scene for the past number of years, playing in countless bands including Unreal Thought and young legends Booji Boys. The music he’s recently made as Science Project, however, carries a more insular […]
OBEY XI: Sarah Hennies
Sarah Hennies w/Melody McKiver Friday, May 25, 7:30pm Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen Street $20, all ages Contralto screening Friday, May 25, 6pm Halifax North Memorial Public Library, 2285 Gottingen Street free Somewhere between starting drum lessons at age nine and studying modern classical music at grad school, avant percussionist and composer Sarah Hennies began […]
OBEY Convention XI reveals full roster
OBEY Convention is always a head trip. The three-day fest, held the weekend of May 24, calls itself “Atlantic Canada’s most adventurous music festival”—a title it lives up to beautifully as it repeatedly exposes Halifax to sounds newly invented, or that few of us knew existed. This week, the fest announced the full list of […]
Wade through Nadah El Shazly’s marshland
Nadah El Shazly w/JOYFULTALK Saturday, March 31, 8:30pm Garrison Brewery, 1149 Marginal Road $20/pwyc When you have a debut album to release, how do you decide what direction to take? If you’re Cairo-based composer/singer Nadah El Shazly, the answer is simple: All of them. “Because it’s my first album, there are a lot of ideas […]
OBEY Convention announces lineup
OBEY’s back to make your May long weekend wildly, wonderfully weird with sonic stylings like your ears have never heard before. The four-day sound and music fest boasts uber-dancable Kudro beats courtesy of Portugal’s Nídia, emotional catharsis with the energy-cleansing rhythms of duo ONO and classical lute playing by Chinese literati-inspired Liu Fang. Rounding out […]

