Reviews
ALBUM REVIEW: John K. Samson – Provincial
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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...
Album Review: The Hoop – Panda Boy
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Josh Kolm ARTS EDITOR “In Through the Outro,” the instrumental opener to Panda Boy, is a bit of a skewed advertisement for the Hoop. There’s nothing wrong with the aggressive, technically sound riffs, but it doesn’t set up nor do justice to the nuances of the rest of the band’s...
Sonic Avenues - Television Youth (Dirtnap)
Album Review: Sonic Avenues – Television Youth
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Joe LaBine LANCE WRITER Sweet, melodic, pulsating and poppy are not words typically used to describe a punk record. The last thing you want to do is make punk pretty, but Montreal-based Sonic Avenues has crafted 10 three minute pop songs that are quick and easy on their sophomore release,...
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (left) and Seth Rogen make some rash decisions in 50/50 • photo courtesy Paramount Pictures
Taking on the odds
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50/50 a funny and real examination of how cancer affects one’s outlook on life H.G. Watson LANCE REPORTER here’s a familiar pattern to films about those stricken with cancer. The diagnosis is given, usually out of the blue. The ill person nobly deals with their illness. Before they go into...
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