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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

Florence is back and her machine is in full throttle. While the new album, Ceremonials, isn’t a total stylistic departure from Lungs—it has that same dark, dramatic sound that so pleased critics—its material offers a newfound catchiness and a slightly more conventional pop feel that might appeal to an even[Read More…]

Coldplay have been around for over a decade now, and while immensely popular, they haven’t gone without criticism, often getting labelled as unoriginal and uninspired, both in their music and lyrics. Even so, they continue to produce music that their fans love. The band introduced a more upbeat, poppy sound[Read More…]

Will Smibert Ending where they started, Braids returned to Montreal last Thursday to cap their North American touring for the year. And what a year it’s been: the release of their Polaris Prize-nominated debut in January has had them touring almost nonstop around the world, honing their live skills in[Read More…]