Reviews
ALBUM REVIEW: Learning – Live in a Living Room
Josh Kolm ARTS EDITOR Speaking broadly, post-rock seems to fall into one of two camps. Bands either make slow, ambient, plinky instrumental songs or highly technical, aggressive jams. While bands on both ends do have their appeal, talent and creativity, it can be easy for any single band’s work to...
The protagonist of Wild Life and Dimanche (above) continue the proud tradition of Canadian animation • photos courtesy National Film Board of Canada
Gold statue meets Great White North
Animated shorts once again provide some Canadian content to Oscar’s most overlooked category H.G. Watson LANCE REPORTER uring the media build up to the Oscars, it’s easy to forget the films that aren’t nominated for the big awards; namely, the Academy Award statuettes to documentaries and animated shorts. For a...
Baby Eagle & the Proud Mothers - Bone Soldiers (You've Changed Records)
ALBUM REVIEW: Baby Eagle & the Proud Mothers – Bone Soliders
Josh Kolm ARTS EDITOR When performing under his Baby Eagle moniker, Stephen Lambke’s music is characterized by numerous minimalist folk-rock trademarks; namely, his simple, dry vocals that don’t seem to suggest there is a great deal of flourish that could be added to his songs. On his fifth album, Bone...
John K. Samson - Provincial (Anti-)
ALBUM REVIEW: John K. Samson – Provincial
Josh Kolm ARTS EDITOR ohn K. Samson may well be one of Canada’s most beloved storytellers, musician or otherwise. On his first full-length solo album, Samson flexes his lyrical muscles, not so much falling back on old tropes as much as he uses them to greater effect. Samson retains his...
Lauren Doobie as Emma Woodhouse in University Players produciton of Emma • photos courtesy University Players
Super sweet: University Players presents Emma
Despite its age and sentimentality, Emma plays genuine Tita Kyrtsakas LANCE WRITER n their fourth play of the season, the University Players sweep you into Jane Austen’s heart as they present Michael Bloom’s adaption of Emma. This whimsical play offers humour, conflict and warmth, like an 1815 version of a...
Dog Day - Deformer (Fundog)
ALBUM REVIEW: Dog Day – Deformer
Joe LaBine LANCE WRITER ith the release of their fifth album Deformer, couple Seth Smith and Nancy Urich stripped the original five-piece line-up of their band down to a smoking two-piece complete with home studio, and may have revived the better side of early 1990’s dream pop-punk-indie. Deformer is “self-recorded,”...
The West Memphis 3, whose arrest, case and recent release are covered in Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory • photos courtesy West Memphis Police Department
Rise above
Oscar-nominated doc covers the complicated emotions around the release of the West Memphis 3 H.G. Watson LANCE REPORTER Shocking hardly covers the opening moments of Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. In 1993, three young boys are murdered in West Memphis, Ark., and the documentary about the hunt for their killers opens...
The Hypnotics - Static Fuzz Radio
ALBUM REVIEW: The Hypnotics – Static Fuzz Radio
Josh Kolm ARTS EDITOR heir reputation and first EP may have pigeonholed the Hypnotics as a garage-rock band— which they are, with their guitar driven melodies and shouting vocals. But on Static Fuzz Radio, they manage to find a lot of creative wiggle room within that definition. Ranging from Buzzcocks-meets-Ramones...
The Black Keys - El Camino (Nonesuch)
ALBUM REVIEW: Black Keys – El Camino
Joe Labine LANCE WRITER ew albums get better as you listen through to the second half, but the new Black Keys is an exception. El Camino is rockier, heavier, four songs and 17 minutes shorter than its three Grammy winning predecessor Brothers. The album is different: all the sounds are...
Battle on the home front
Crosstown Players stay factually accurate and emotionally poignant in Sarah Girty’s War Micaela Muldoon LANCE WRITER he Crosstown Players’ latest project is a story of family turbulence and the struggle to maintain a familiar way of life in the midst of mass, adverse change– or to find a better life...
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