MUSIC: Ann Vriend the next big thing – or is she already?
Ann Vriend sounds like Loretta Lynn singing Aretha Franklin songs written by Marvin Gaye and produced by Mitchell Froom. It is that weird – and wonderful. The sound of the Edmonton singer’s new record, For the People in the Mean Time, owes a lot to her Italian producer Tino Zolfo, whose Froomish style with all [...]
Queen + Adam Lambert better than no Queen at all
Of course it’s impossible to fill the shoes of the late, great Freddie Mercury – but the flambouyant Adam Lambert gets the ultimate endorsement from the surviving members of Queen: They’re touring together as Queen + Adam Lambert, playing Rexall Place on June 24. Tickets go on sale next Friday, March 14. The unlikely combo [...]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Wake Owl a hoot
To have Vancouver claim the great band Wake Owl as its own may be a little misleading – because its singer-songwriter Colyn Cameron seems to be from a lot of different places. Raised in Southern California, he went off to study organic agriculture in England, then worked on various farms in the UK, Germany, Chile, [...]
SkirtsAfire to burn glass ceiling
Whatever you think of grouping artists by gender first and by their art second, consider the all-female SkirtsAfire “herArts” festival – playing March 6-9 at venues around Alberta Avenue – as “theatrical affirmative action.” The stats on theatrical sexual equality in Canada are “grim,” says festival director Annette Loiselle, citing a 2008 study done by [...]
Nobility in Defeat: Where are they now?
Kerry Diotte has popped back up on the radar. The former Ward 11 councillor and failed mayoral candidate announced on his birthday – Feb. 26 – that he will seek the Conservative Party of Canada nomination in the new federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach. That’s right. He’s baaaaack. After Don Iveson surged into the Edmonton [...]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Attack of The Pack!
Vancouver noise duo The Pack a.d. doesn’t need any introduction to local music fans. The grinding guitars of Becky Black, and the barely-reigned-in-chaos drumming of Maya Miller have caught the attention of media and public alike throughout the nation, with songs like “Sirens” and in particular “Haunt You”, which was a radio behemoth. The duo [...]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Rah Rah leads Saskatchewanian Invasion!
There’s a four-band bill happening this Saturday at the Artery that just may end up as the best concert of the first quarter in the city. Headlining the event is Regina act Rah Rah, an intriguing blend of indie pop and party folk. With buzzworthy songs like “Arrows” and “Henry” from their sophomore release, and [...]
MUSIC: Fools Tongue channels Peter Gabriel
What a world where musicians can make music as progressive as the proggiest of prog-rock – in an Edmonton basement. Fools Tongue’s new album “New World” sounds like Sting meets Peter Gabriel in, er … words fail, a home recording studio. Don’t get that every day around these parts. “That’s our world,” says singer Luke [...]
INTERVIEW: Sass Jordan on Canadian Idol, short attention spans
There is no alternate reality where American Idol and its ilk did not exist so we could all say, “See? Look how great popular music is without all these deluded show-offs to ruin it for everyone!” The Idols would’ve shown off anyway. These sort of TV talent shows just put inner workings of the pop [...]
