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…]
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
Deep Cuts: Classical pieces that everyone should know
Eine kleine Nactmusik, K525 Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composed: 1787 You’ve heard the famous first movement maybe a million times: In movies, TV shows, commercials, and on stages time and time again—maybe you even played it with your middle school orchestra. Translated quite literally to “A Little Night Music,” this[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: A missed opportunity for The Newsroom
For those convinced of the self-absorption of the American “media elite,” the hoopla that surrounded the debut of Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom in 2012 was an excellent case-in-point.
Album Review: Arca – Xen
Sloan turns it up to album 11
There are few bands that posses both the longevity and commitment to collective songwriting that Sloan does. Each member of the Halifax four-piece—consisting of rhythm guitarist/vocalist Jay Ferguson, bassist/vocalist Chris Murphy, lead guitarist/vocalist Patrick Pentland, and drummer Andrew Scott—has contributed significant material since the band’s debut in 1992. However, according[Read More…]
Album Review: Mother Mother – Very Good Bad Thing
The man who knew too much
If it’s the story at the heart of Citizenfour that gives the documentary its breathtaking urgency, it’s the film’s multilayered nature that makes a powerful statement on the modern relationship between a government and its citizens. Both a stunningly intimate character study and a larger, more global overview of governmental[Read More…]
Birdman successfully walks a tightwire
I’ve often wondered why actors don’t just retire after starring in a high-grossing film. Presumably, they have more than enough money to do whatever they want for the rest of their lives, so what makes them turn away from a life of comfort? Is it fear of boredom? Is it[Read More…]
Album Review: Calvin Harris – Motion
Nearly seven years after his first album, I Created Disco (2007), Calvin Harris continues to be a relevant fixture at house parties, summer festivals, and clubs everywhere. His latest production, Motion, strays further away from the dance-pop that defined his previous album, 18 Months (2012), and provides a more somber[Read More…]
Ladies’ Book Night provides brutal honesty among hilarity
Librarie Drawn and Quarterly, a snug little bookstore in the Plateau, welcomed four American writers—Mira Gonzalez, Elizabeth Ellen, Chloe Caldwell, and Chelsea Marti—to present their monotone yet dynamically comic collections in spoken word. The synergetic flow between the four writers is astounding, yet makes perfect sense. All four women write[Read More…]