Friday night, clear your schedule. Rich Aucoin has made party hats with you and your friends’ names on them. Aucoin promises “more visuals, light shows, balloons and confetti than you know what to do with.” He harnesses the power and energy of a Flaming Lips show all by himself, but Windom Earle is sharing the […]
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Angel of Death
Running 40 minutes late to a screening-party for the Ed Brubaker-penned webseries Angel of Death? No worries: at 43:28, two characters clunkily recap AOD‘s plot. Everyone’s worried badass assassin Eve (Zoe Bell) has a newly developed conscience and is coming after her assassin bosses. One assassin chum assures another that “Eve doesn’t see the world […]
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A Hole in a Fence
On DVD for a while now, this brisk film avoids a thesis completely while painting its portrait of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighbourhood in transition. An IKEA is about to move in and various residents and stakeholders ponder what will be lost and gained. But 45 minutes is not long enough to develop the arguments its […]
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Dan Mangan
Vancouver native Dan Mangan’s vocals on this LP will charm the pants off any summer road-tripper, via beautifully sung folk pop melodies, sometimes about coffee, sometimes about love. Mangan’s smart, soul-bearing album kicks off with “Road Regrets,” a song he wrote in 2007 while driving from El Paso to Austin, drinking gas-station coffee and regretting […]
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Gossip
Gossip face potential backlash for their major label shift—a far cry from an Arkansas punk-rock blues band originally on Kill Rock Stars. But Music for Men is an homage to homos. The title track and “Men In Love” nod to the lack of queer-minded music. Political dance anthems “Pop Goes the World,” “Heavy Cross” and […]
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Levon Helm
On his second album since battling cancer, the only American in The Band seems positively robust. “Where’s the dignity in a crop that you raise to burn?” muses a farmer who turned to growing marijuana in “Growin’ Trade”. The only Helm original, it’s also the catchiest tune on Electric Dirt. Not that the Grateful Dead […]
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Meaghan Smith shines on (500) Days of Summer soundtrack
Haligonian singer/songwriter Meaghan Smith could quite possibly be one of the main reasons not to punch (500) Days of Summer in the face. Smith’s cover of The Pixies’ “Here Comes Your Man” is featured on the soundtrack, available here. You can see trailer above and possibly agree with me about wanting to give the film […]
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CUBERS on CBC’s Newsworld tonight
CUBERS, the documentary about obsessed Rubik’s Cube champs, produced by Halifax’s Walter Forsyth, is on tonight. CBC Newsworld, The Lens, 11pm. Related Stories
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Today is Crass Day!
How awesome would it be to move into the Dial House? So awesome? That’s what I thought. Enjoy Crass today!
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Happy NOFX Day
Seen and heard: lively chap playing an acoustic rendition of “August 8th” on his front porch. Happy NOFX Day everyone!
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Osheaga Day Two
Sunday began with rain, continued with rain, and ended with sun. We showed up to the festival in time to catch someone we had been looking forward to, Miike Snow. The band is comprised of singer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt and producing team Bloodshy & Avant. Six men dressed in black filled the stage to create a […]
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Osheaga Day One
Unfortunately, due to a 12-hour drive from Halifax to Montreal, Saturday started a little late. Doors to the festival opened at 1pm with bands starting at two (we arrived around four). It was 35 degrees, sunny and humid at Parc Jean Drapeau that day. A perfect setting for drunken fools to dehydrate themselves and pass […]
