Concert review — Brasstronaut @ Broken City
A quick chat with Broken City’s exceedingly friendly bartender, Adam, reveals that Brasstronaut is short one guitar player and missed out on a full soundcheck — not necessarily a good sign for a band with two wind instruments to mic. Sure enough, the first song — “Lo Hi Hopes,” from the band’s debut full-length, Mt. … Continue reading
CD Review: Maintenant, by Gigi
(full review from ffwdweekly.com) Five years ago, Vancouver producer Colin Stewart got his hands on a pair of vintage reverb plates, the kind that gave ’50s girl-group pop its irresistibly warm feel, and asked his friend Nick Krgovich (P:Ano, No Kids) to provide songs that would do the equipment justice. Let’s not mince words — … Continue reading
On the open-source road: Interview with Melbourne’s Bankai
Melbourne electro artist Bankai’s music comes on like a cartoon freight train, chaotically careening around sharp corners and constantly threatening to derail itself. Between the stuttering, glitch-laden rhythms, video-game samples and vocals that are the aural equivalent of a Tex Avery cartoon, the man behind the evocatively titled Teen Slut Pimp Strut EP doesn’t seem … Continue reading
A heroic act of treason: The Most Dangerous Man in America — Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
FILM: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: The trickiest thing about documentaries is separating the story from the filmmaking. The Most Dangerous Man in America has a great subject in Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who leaked 7,000 pages of classified Pentagon documents that outline the history of the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam … Continue reading
Bonus post: A handful of 50-word CD reviews
All reviews based entirely on first impressions, and not to be construed as particularly informed: Brasstronaut – Mt. Chimera (Unfamiliar): A hell of an improvement from the Old World Lies EP, which was alright but not noteworthy. Elements of jazz, laid-back electronica, dixieland and indie rock, but all in an unabashedly pop framework. Think P:Ano … Continue reading
There ain’t no life on Shutter Island
FILM: Shutter Island: I won’t be able to talk about this movie without at least mildly spoiling the ending, so if that’s going to be a concern, best to stop right here. But it really shouldn’t be a concern, because… well, because the ending is kind of dumb. And the odds are, if you’ve seen … Continue reading
Oh goodness, he’s talking about music
Lest I forget, this blog is about more than just movies. And right now, I’m more obsessed with the new Gil Scott-Heron album than with any movie, so let’s roll with that. At the back of the liner notes for the album, this is what it says: There is a proper procedure for taking advantage … Continue reading
Alberta Theatre Projects’ playRites in brief — three plays, exactly 100 words each
How Do I Love Thee?, by Florence Gibson MacDonald: Given my near-complete lack of literary training, I only know Elizabeth Barrett Browning for her titular question, and even less of Robert Browning. Maybe an emotional connection to their poetry would’ve made How Do I Love Thee go down easier, but as it stands, the florid … Continue reading
Televising the revolution
FILM: Burma VJ: In September of 2007, tens of thousands of Burmese citizens, including an estimated 5,000 Buddhist monks, stood up to the nation’s oppressive military regime. It was the country’s most significant protest in almost 20 years, the first major act of resistance since a 1988 student protest that resulted in the army opening … Continue reading
CD Review – Pantha Du Prince
Pantha Du Prince – Black Noise Rough Trade Minimal electronica isn’t the first thing to come to mind when talking about Rough Trade records, but if that’s the direction the label wants to take, it’s taken a hell of a first step in signing Pantha du Prince. Black Noise, the third album from the German … Continue reading
The Consumption 