MUSIC PREVIEW: Home for a Party!
Here’s the perfect verse for the end of summer: “You’ll have to excuse me, I’m not at my best. I’ve been gone for a month, I’ve been drunk since I left. These so-called vacations will soon be my death. I’m so sick from the drink I need home for a rest.” Most music fans of […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Kaleido festival amps up
From humble community event to major city festival, the Kaleido Family Arts Festival takes over the city this weekend along Alberta (118) Avenue – and once again they’ve amped up the live music with a heady mix of touring and local performers that’s sure to please almost every music lover. The Dodos are the headliners […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Canadian country, California vibes
Welcome to the Hotel Edmontonia! Such a lovely place, such a lovely face. Plenty of room at the Hotel Edmontonia, any time of year … except maybe at this particular busy time if you’ve come into town for the Country Music Week! Building up to the CCMA Awards Sunday night at Rexall Place – and […]
Foreign Musician Fee Fracas: It’s not the end of the world
What’s a guy gotta do to get an LMO exemption around here?! There’s a good pick up line next time you’re in your favourite local bar or coffee shop – where you probably be seeing a lot more true blue Canadian live music now that sneaky government fees on foreign workers have been imposed. Employers […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Sonic Boom to end summer with a bang
This year’s edition of Sonic Boom, the first to span two days, has grown into one of Edmonton’s most renowned music festivals – and organizers have brought in some serious heavy hitters to keep it that way. Saturday begins with REND, the band that won a local competition among Sonic “Bands of the Months” to […]
MUSIC: Mayhem by day, Kraftwerk by night
What happens when metalheads make dance music on modular synthesizers? Noisy dance music, that’s what. When local soundman and musician Jason Borys got together with Jeremy Greenspan of Hamilton synthpop duo Junior Boys, the resulting album yielded iterative beats and dark undertones that feel like they belong at a dance party in some seedy, dimly […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Intercontinental mojo at blues fest
The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival has taken over the city, absorbing any and all of the performing arts in its path. Nothing is safe, theatre, comedy, dance, not even music. A number of favorite local music venues have even been converted into what are known as “Bring Your Own Venue” theatres for the duration […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Interstellar Rodeo a roots-rock spectacular
Think of it as a little “aperitif” to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival: The Interstellar Rodeo – featuring an ensemble cast of incredibly talented musicians Friday through Sunday in beautiful Hawrelak Park. Like the folk fest, this one is SOLD OUT, and you can expect future editions to follow suit, as this fledgling music festival […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: The Taste of Music
You may know it for the food, but this year’s incarnation of The Taste Of Edmonton is pulling out all the stops in its musical lineup as well. Thursday night starts off with a bang, as Vancouver’s Hey Ocean! takes center stage, whose catchy melodies will surely whisk you away to a laid-back beach. The […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Sled Island Spillover Effect
NextFest continues through the weekend with a deluge of intriguing and diverse gigs, and we bow to their offerings for much of the weekend as summer festival season starts to kick into full gear. The big upcoming date in the music calendar is next Wednesday, June 19th, as the “Sled Island Spillover Effect” takes hold […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Nextfest best bet
Edmonton’s first major arts festival of the season – Nextfest – takes over the city for the next week and a half, featuring almost every art form you could imagine, from theatre to dance, from visual arts to film, and of course music. The most interesting option amongst its many offerings may be a combination […]
Don’t be afraid of Death Toll Rising – be very afraid
Things can get a little awkward when you try to explain to someone why your band’s last album was called “Defecation Suffocation.” Of course, for those well versed in extreme metal, such titles are par for the course. Edmonton band Death Toll Rising, which dropped the aforementioned album in 2010, doesn’t expect anyone to take […]
