Us Little Devils seems like a name too deviously coy for a band that’s named after their hometown’s sunny climate. Yet Sunparlour Players’ latest release is certainly not lacking in contradictions. Within a scant 36 minutes, listeners are dragged through a disorienting mixture of frenzied, eclectic, pop-rock Canadiana. What results[Read More…]
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
Difficult to explain, easy to like
Sometimes authors face a chasm between the critical and the consensus. Last year Johanna Skibsrud won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her debut novel, The Sentimentalists. Critics praised the book for its poetic language and complex themes, though many readers disagreed. Some found the work overwritten, and the storytelling murky,[Read More…]
The men who knew too much
alliancefilmsmedia.com alliancefilmsmedia.com Surviving Progress, as the name suggests, is a film that questions our understanding of progress by pushing viewers to see progress as a movement that threatens humanity, rather than as positive advancement. The documentary, based on Ronald Wright’s best selling non fiction book A Short History of Progress,[Read More…]
Shake and half-baked conspiracy theories
mcgill.ca Shakespeare has joined the ranks of Godzilla, alien invaders, and apocalyptic Mayan predictions, with the release of Roland Emmerich’s latest film, Anonymous, in which we, the English-speaking world, are the unknowing victims of a political and literary conspiracy of titanic proportions. A conspiracy involving Queen Elizabeth herself and the[Read More…]
The Trib’s November Playlist
Halloween is over, it’s not Christmas just yet, and November is hectic, not to mention cold. Here are some relaxing pre-winter songs to provide a soundtrack to decorative gourd season and get you through the grind. Nick Drake: “From the Morning,” from Pink Moon (1972) Clazziquai: “Gentle Rain,” from[Read More…]
Two-dimensional plot, 3D action
Hollywood seems to be lacking in original ideas. If they can’t revamp an older movie and call it a prequel they turn to books for inspiration, to varying degrees of success. The remake of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers is one of the better efforts. It walks the fine line[Read More…]
In concert: The Barr Brothers
Sam Reynolds “Where did you all come from?” vocalist and guitar player Brad Barr rhetorically asked the audience midway through the Barr Brother’s official self-titled album release show last Tuesday at La Tulipe. He was speaking to the fact that the band had already self-released the album last year to[Read More…]
Chad VanGaalen takes listeners on a trip to Diaper Island
Jeff Thorburn / killbeatmusic.com Jeff Thorburn / killbeatmusic.com We’re often told that success and happiness come from, amongst other things, being yourself. Calgary’s Chad VanGaalen has made a career of doing the exact opposite. The two-time Polaris Prize-nominated multi-instrumentalist is best known for his genre-bending song-based material. That he ended[Read More…]
Coma Unplugged is very much alive
Talisman Theatre It’s a terrible thing to watch a mind go to waste. Yet Pierre-Michel Tremblay’s Coma Unplugged makes it so infectiously fun. Talisman Theatre’s latest production is proof that when you mix a sharply written script with a cast whose energy knows no bounds, magic occurs. The play, translated[Read More…]
A fortress to take shelter in
killbeatmusic.com It only takes two minutes talking to Jennifer Castle to feel completely mellow. The light, pure tone of her singing voice matches the soft, relaxed tone of her conversation, and clues you into her laid back, organic approach to music. Evident in her newest album, Castlemusic, Castle’s take on[Read More…]
