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Josh Kolm EDITOR EMERITUS SANTIGOLD – Master of My Make Believe (Atlantic) There is a fine line between a song that is catchy and club-friendly and one that is pandering and hacky. On the follow-up to her breakthrough debut Santogold, Santigold shows that she is aware of that line and how to stay on the right side of it. In the four years preceding Master of My Make Believe, the trends in pop music have changed, seemingly in favour of the dashes of reggae, dub and electronic music Santigold’s first album was noted for. Song titles like “Look at These...
Micaela Muldoon Lance Writer PS I LOVE YOU – Death Dreams (Paper Bag Records) ingston duo P.S. I Love You packs a wallop of a record with their latest, Death Dreams. The album begins with the title track: a lovely, melancholy and wholly instrumental song that should be part of a movie soundtrack. But despite the intro, the album is far from doom and gloom— it pulsates energy. The buzzy, yet crystalline guitars electrify the entire album. The instrumental work shows the compellingly beautiful edge, soul and depth that rock music can have. It brings to mind imagery of sunrise,...
Jason Rankin LANCE WRITER WOODS OF YPRES Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light (Earache Records) Woods of Ypres offers an enriching melodic musical experience with its new doom metal album, Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light. The album picks up with “Lightning & Snow,” starting with light, rhythmic guitar and then picking up. The guitar gets faster. The drums kick in, going from a steady beat to lightning double-kick. The vocals are a long held scream. It’s not like other metal bands where the screaming is unintelligible and sounds like Chewbacca. These are real words, complemented by a...
Micaela Muldoon LANCE WRITER Charlottetown indie punk quartet Money in the Banana Stand has given us a fun, thoughtful and expressive soundtrack in their seven-track EP Giant Steps II. Despite the genre, their maturity is evident. They don’t slam their guitars and drums like kids with raging anger. Instead, they maintain the authentic, original garage rock sound with raw-yet-clean music: a warbling, tuneful lead guitar, clear rhythm guitar, energetic drums and atypical vocals that capture attention— not the everyday commercial punk vocals that may show more training and appeal to the general public, but are less distinctive. The EP begins...
The Lance previews this year’s dark horse contenders for summer box office glory H.G. Watson LANCE REPORTER uperheroes will rule the multiplexes again this summer. While there is no problem with watching Batman kick in a mobster’s teeth, it’s nice to have some more options for summer movie viewing. At least one unexpected film always makes waves in the summer with critics and viewers alike. Last year it was Bridesmaids and Attack the Block; this year, any of the four below could be the sleeper hit of the summer. The Raid was a massive hit at the SXSW film festival...
University Players end their year with an impactful lack-of-love story Tita Kyrtsakas LANCE WRITER n their last show of the 2011-2012 season, the University Players perform Niel Labute’s Some Girl(s), a play with only five actors that reveals the emotional damage the sole male character is capable of. The short play starts with “Rolling in the Deep,” Adele’s heartbroken song about losing her love, instantly foreshadowing what to expect with this production. Guy (Sam Muir), a recently betrothed writer, sits in a hotel room waiting for the first of four women he is travelling to see across the country in...
Jesse, AR by Said The Whale Josh Kolm ARTS EDITOR On 2009’s Islands Disappear, Said the Whale established themselves as happy-go-lucky indie kids with an ability to tell stories with craft and capability that far exceeds the innocence implied by their sound. On Little Mountain, they expand their vision in terms of musical style, but stick to the structure that has allowed them to stand out from the happy, indie pack. The band practically begs for Decemberists comparisons at points. It’s not so much in terms of how they sound, as they’re more pop and upbeat. It’s not in the...
Battle Royale takes a more visceral approach to dystopian teenage fights to the death H.G. Watson LANCE REPORTER he Hunger Games owned the box office this past weekend, showing that people apparently love dystopian fictions in which young people hunt each other for entertainment. If the adventures of Katniss didn’t whet your appetite for blood sport, see the film that provided some of the inspiration for the smash hit: 2000’s Battle Royale, directed by Kinji Funkasaku. There are many similarities between the two films, but Battle Royale takes a smaller scale approach to dystopia, and a large scale to gore....
Joe Labine LANCE WRITER Describing Halifax’s Cousins’ sound is easy: cool, reverb-drenched, surf rocky tone. The songs on The Palm at the End of the Mind are disjointed, jarring, and full of east coast attitude. Heavy guitar and drums drive the album with sharp melodic breaks in a style reminiscent of Bleach-era Nirvana and vocal style similar to Grizzly Bear’s on Veckatimest. “Speech” and “Thunder” are stand out songs for the band; the former for its groovy swank and the latter for its redeeming, near-joyful sound, reminiscent of better days in the lo-fi scene. The spooky, Chesire Cat-like vocal performances...
Josh Kolm ARTS EDITOR n an era where bands are described by an endless list of sub-genres, and those who forgo that in favour of being described as straight forward “rock and roll” tend to be radio-friendly and critically panned, Teenage Kicks self-describe themselves as trying to bring the luster back to rock and roll. On their latest release, an EP called “Be On My Side,” what exactly that means becomes a little clearer. Unlike the monotonous battering songs of most mainstream bands that also attempt to extol the virtues of rock and roll, Teenage Kicks manage to do it...