The Flood Thereafter was a risky choice for a student production. Tuesday Night Café Theatre (TNC) Directors Daphné Morin and Cleo da Fonseca chose a complex piece that weaves surrealism, small-town identity, and Greek myth together. Coming in closer to two hours than the promised hour and a half, The[Read More…]
Articles by Ian Rodgers
When rappers feel the Bern: The impact Killer Mike and Lil B can have on Bernie Sanders’ campaign
Brandon "Lil B" McCarthey, AKA The Based God is a mysterious figure. His online persona is something that should not have worked: He obviously and aggressively tried to make himself go viral by creating numerous Myspace pages and Twitter accounts. Michael “Killer Mike” Render gained his fame by more conventional means,[Read More…]
La vie Boheme: AUTS’ RENT sheds light and darkness on New York’s starving artists
Sentimental is a term that is often used in a derogatory way in criticism. Strong emotions are juxtaposed with a more savvy and self-aware, or clear-headed and objective approach to human issues. ‘Sentimental’ is a label frequently applied to musicals, and this year’s Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society (AUTS) production, RENT[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Pop is art—don’t go by the numbers!
The last few years have seen a burgeoning of the movement of ‘poptimism.’ Poptimism takes popular music as an artistic form worthy of merit and critique like any other, and has been very productive. Popular music is analyzed and appreciated more rigorously and superstars like Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, and Taylor[Read More…]
Nudism & Cubism: Dana Schutz exhibit sheds new light on Cubist painting
Painter Dana Schutz’ exhibit mixes the experimental vigour of modernism with a personal and approachable style. The work has a clear relationship to cubism, representing figures in an atypically, fragmented manner, but it does not share the clinical eye that is representative of the movement for which Picasso is known. Rather[Read More…]
Album Review: Art Angels – Grimes
Grimes (the stage name of ex-McGill student, Claire Boucher) is not your dream girl. In a music industry that wants to turn performers into a unified brand, Grimes falls into an odd position. She defies easy characterization: She is too weird to be a true pop artist, but is too[Read More…]
The Viewpoint: SIN – halloween haunted house
SIN: Halloween Haunted House at the Theatre Sainte-Catherine was an intense and disturbing experience, unlike any other haunted house. The theatre’s small space was transformed into a formless nightmare that played with the audience’s vulnerability. The experience began with the participants being attached to a rope by the wrist, while[Read More…]
Album Review: New Bermuda – Deafheaven
On New Bermuda, Deafheaven maintains the uniqueness of their sound but loses some of the intensity of their previous album, Sunbather. Deafheaven has always existed in an interesting limbo, combining the extremity of black metal with softer shoegaze and post rock sounds. This limbo angered diehard fans but excited many[Read More…]
Peer Review: Choral Comprehensives
For many undergraduates at McGill, graduate students can seem separate from the rest of us, little more than strange entities that touch down to mark papers and run conferences. Choral Comprehensives is a reminder that like any other student, grad students need activities outside of class to stay sane, serving[Read More…]
Album Review: Meow the Jewels – Run the Jewels
It’s hard to have particularly high expectations when going into an album like Meow the Jewels. Cats as a meme became played out a while ago, peaking in 2013 when the touring Internet Cat Video Festival got some press. These low expectations were happily shattered by the talent of Run[Read More…]
Album Review: Every open eye – Chvrches
CHVRCHES’ new album Every Open Eye shows them trying to find balance on a tightrope between pop and alternative. At their best, they create pop anthems that are sincere to their core and have a unique sound. At their worst, their tracks drag on and fail to hit any kind[Read More…]
Pop Montreal 2015 round-up
Orbiting the musical enormity of Stars of the Lid Stars of the Lid combined creativity, classical composition, and raw musical power to create soundscapes that are simply incredible. The two composers—Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie—remained mostly in darkness for their performance at the Ukrainian Federation. The quartet of accompanying string[Read More…]