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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

That Iced Earth’s newest album Dystopia is nearly identical to its predecessors does not necessarily condemn it to mediocrity. The band’s leader (and sole fixture), rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer, has been cutting songs from the same cloth for a long time, but has managed to produce a number of very[Read More…]

Sam Reynolds Sam Reynolds Montreal’s Suuns (pronounced “soons”) made a hometown stop on their tour last Thursday night at Il Motore. Playing to a packed venue, the band pummelled its way through a dark, intense, and above all impressive set of dancey, minimalist, electro-tinged post-punk. Extensive touring has turned the[Read More…]

 When reading recreationally, I want a book that’s easy on the mind, yet emotionally gripping. It’s rare that my eyes will drift to the dry, unemotional stuff. That’s why I was surprised to find myself drawn to the work of one of the greatest hardboiled detective writers of all time:[Read More…]

Britain’s quintessential indie hipsters, The Kooks, are back with their third album Junk of the Heart after a three-year hiatus. Known for their rousing choruses and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, The Kooks are all about strings, fedoras, and black and white videos. This album attempts to change that, and the result is[Read More…]

When a film title references the assassination of Caesar, viewers can’t expect lollipops and unicorns. The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney, is a film that strangles hope with its bare hands, throws it in the trunk, then dumps the body in the wilderness of political cynicism. Not to[Read More…]