The fifth and latest studio album by The High Dials, a Montreal-based indie band, explores familiar territory by mixing pop and electronica with folk inspired melodies. The album successfully creates a distinct atmosphere while providing more traditional listeners with grounded and catchy melodies, despite suffering from a few subpar tracks.[Read More…]
Articles by Martin Molpeceres
Album Review: Dan Mangan – Club Meds
Club Meds constitutes the fourth studio album for Canadian musician Dan Mangan—the first with Blacksmith as his backing band—and takes a departure from the songwriter’s folky style into more abstract musical genres. Attempting to convey a darker, atmospheric flair through eclectic melodies and slow vocals, the album falls spectacularly[Read More…]
TV Reviews
Downton Abbey Downton Abbey has gained a solid and loyal following throughout its four seasons, mainly consisting of—from my experience—an older female demographic. However, I myself have kept up with the show, and have discovered some male friends who shyly profess their love for the British soap opera. This bashfulness[Read More…]
How Exile Melts
Written by McGill alumnus Dane Stewart and directed by Patrick Neilson, How Exile Melts is the latest production by the McGill Department of Drama and Theatre. It follows the story of four siblings as they reunite at their old home in Nova Scotia to visit their ailing father, only to[Read More…]
Album Review: Ryan Hemsworth – Alone For the First Time
Ryan Hemsworth’s Alone For the First Time follows his well-received Guilt Trips (2013) to constitute the Canadian producer’s third studio album. The record immediately offers a unique, somewhat melancholic tone with the opening track “Hurt Me”—something that remains present throughout. The minimalist electronic beats, coupled with a grounding percussion, mix[Read More…]
Weird Ass Game Show more normal than advertised
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I stepped into the Wiggle Room for the first time. Then again, what can one really expect when they show up for something called “The Weird Ass Game Show?” It seemed like no one really knew what it was, but with the[Read More…]
Superhospital makes an appointment for comedy
It’s fitting that Montreal Improv’s newest show, Superhospital, takes its name from an enormous medical centre that’s currently being constructed just west of the city’s downtown core. For the uninitiated, improvisational theatre—or improv—is a type of performance art in which a group of actors hop on stage with no script,[Read More…]
I like it better when we’re not wasted
The Drunken Show is exactly what it sounds like: A group of comedians who get inebriated and go on stage to perform their acts, with the audience heavily encouraged to get drunk as well. So naturally, with the aim of getting the ‘full’ experience, that’s exactly what I did—for artistic[Read More…]
Deep Cuts: Eclectic echoes—Shattered melodies and broken
Life in a Glass House Artist: Radiohead Album: Amnesiac Released: June 5, 2001 “Life in a Glass House,” begins slowly and thoughtfully: Thom Yorke’s voice rings hauntingly to the forefront, carrying deep melancholy as a clarinet and trumpet float in the periphery. As the piece progresses, these instruments become bolder,[Read More…]
Edge of Eternity provides engrossing ending to historical trilogy
History has a bad rap for being a seemingly perfunctory field of study. As a history major, I certainly have gotten my fair share of skepticism when I profess my interest in our past. But history, more than almost any other subject, carries a certain humanity with it. It is[Read More…]
Virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani improves with age
I have a love-hate relationship with Joe Satriani. I love his music, but I hate that he ruined the guitar for me. This may seem a little overdramatic, but hear me out. For when I was a young naïve lad, trying to learn the guitar, the first song I attempted[Read More…]
Kings of Leon – Mechanical Bull
One would be hard-pressed to find a mainstream rock band that has evolved their sound as drastically, and with as much cohesion, as Kings of Leon. From the early country-blues of Youth and Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak, to far more melodic, alternative sounds of Come Around Sundown, the Kings of Leon have managed to keep a style in all their music as familiar as it is distinct.