Fast Romantics & Secret Broadcast interview
They say great minds think alike. Secret Broadcast and The Fast Romantics were two of the five local bands to win $15,000 from Calgary radio station X92 last year as part of its Xposure contest. There were no strings attached to the money and no guidelines for how it should be spent; just the hope … Continue reading
Wax Mannequin – Saxon (Zunior)
After two albums of dunderheaded bluster and blissfully bizarre twists on hard rock cliché, Wax Mannequin steps away from his “president of indie rock” persona on Saxon. Though not quite a return to the twisted prog-folk of his first two albums, Saxon is a far subtler effort than 2004’s The Price and 2007’s Orchard and … Continue reading
Statistical muddling at the Calgary Herald
I don’t usually get into politics on this blog, but lazy, misleading statistics are a particular pet peeve of mine. Last Friday’s Calgary Herald featured a column on hybrid cars, which pointed to a study on the efficacy of rebate programs in encouraging people to buy hybrids. From the article: “Researchers at the University of … Continue reading
Virgin fumblings: Fest’s Alberta stop gets awkward
With less than a week to go before Virgin Festival’s second Calgary stop, the fest added another 11 bands to the lineup it announced five weeks ago. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, Aug. 4, the new additions include Juno Award-winners Wintersleep, indie-pop collective Library Voices and local rockers Secret Broadcast, Static in … Continue reading
It Came from the Library: In a Lonely Place
For a connoisseur of pop-cultural flotsam (and a cheap bastard), there are few better sources than the Calgary Public Library. Movies, TV series, comics, records, even books — the potential for finding hidden gems is nearly limitless, and It Came from the Library will chronicle my excavation. The find: In a Lonely Place (1950), starring … Continue reading
Jack Lemmon Collection review
With his easygoing persona and mildly frazzled charm, Jack Lemmon helped set the template for the romantic comedy lead in the golden days of Hollywood. Those same traits also made him an easy favourite for directors like Billy Wilder, who cast him in such classics as Irma La Douce, Some Like It Hot and The … Continue reading
Akron/Family set ’em free of cynicism (interview)
“To turn your back on something that’s sincere — I mean, it might not be for you, and that’s fine — but to turn on it because it is sincere is a real shame,” says Akron/Family drummer Dana Janssen. “What the hell are you doing if you’re not being honest with yourself, or if you’re … Continue reading
Hazardous territory – Interview with the Decemberists
A swooning maiden; a murderous rake; a magical shape-shifter — the cast of characters in The Hazards of Love is about as removed from rock convention as it gets. The fifth full-length album from Portland, Oregon’s The Decemberists, who will be headlining the Calgary Folk Music Festival on Friday night, Hazards is the band’s most … Continue reading
Can Public Enemies really be that bad?
“Critical consensus,” that vague sense of agreement measured by aggregator sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, isn’t exactly a reliable indicator of quality. Still, the one thing it is good for is providing a ballpark of what to expect from a film — so it can be off-putting, especially as a critic, to find yourself … Continue reading
Moon review
There are two kinds of science fiction films: those that use the trappings of the genre for escapism, and those that use it more philosophically. There have been plenty of examples of the former lately. Some have been good (Star Trek). Many could politely be called an acquired taste (think Death Race, Jumper or Meet … Continue reading
The Consumption 