MUSIC PREVIEW: Young the Giant loved for both ‘Body’ and mind
This is what music freaks live for: A new rock band that shows way more depth than the over-saturated radio hit that brought them to the mainstream to begin with. Imagine! Young the Giant is such a band. These Californians made a splash in 2011 with the fairly straight-ahead rocker My Body – which hit […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Enchanting Basia Bulat
This Sunday, sensational folk songstress Basia Bulat will play at Festival Place in Sherwood Park. With her mom teaching piano and guitar, the Ontario native has been surrounded by music since the youngest of ages, so it’s no surprise that the bug hit her whilst at college, and Bulat released her first EP by 2005. […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Good times at the Arden
Matthew Good has been a fixture of Canadian alternative rock radio since there was such a thing. He’s the go-to handy modern rock Can-Con for a rainy day – and it was a rare day his music wasn’t heard several times on Edmonton’s own Sonic 102.9 radio. He was their poster boy. Not so much […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Paul Brandt shares his Journey
When word came that Paul Brandt was going to play the local hockey arena as part of his “Journey” tour, we thought, man, these country guys will cover anybody! But no, the Calgary country star will not be doing Journey songs at Rogers Place on Saturday night – wouldn’t that have been something? The tour […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Odds are pretty good
Here’s a blast from the fairly recent past: The XTC-like Vancouver quartet that called themselves Odds. Not THE Odds, just Odds, as in probability. Like what are the odds that Odds would rule the 1990s with such offbeat anthems as Heterosexual Man, Eat My Brain, and Someone Who’s Cool – and then disappear without a […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Feel the Bern
Since his first release in 1997, Dan Bern has been working non-stop on his craft, putting out album after album (he’s got some two dozen now), doing work on film and television scores, and he’s even found time to be an influential painter, with works hanging in the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. He also wrote […]
NYE MUSIC PREVIEW: ‘Opening acts’ for 2019
Ask any musician and they’ll tell you that New Year’s Eve is the best-paying gig of the year – yet oddly it will not usually be ranked as “the most fun.” That’s because you’re effectively playing second fiddle to the New Year itself – along with the inevitable countdown to midnight and the performance of […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: A tisket, a tasket, a Plaskett Family Affair
You’re likely very familiar with Joel Plaskett – multiple Juno winner, multiple Polaris nominee. He’s released seven solo albums since 1999, as well as six albums as the frontman of Canadian indie-rock staple Emergency, and five with Thrush Hermit. By all markers, Plaskett is undoubtedly an indie folk-rock luminary. What you’re probably not as familiar […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Yukon Blonde got the Knack
Contrary to popular belief, there are just two kinds of rock ‘n’ roll. One is the kind to which you bang your head up and down, as when attending a metal show. The other one causes you to bob your head from side to side with a smile on your face, like the Peanuts Gang. […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Stars to shine on Edmonton
Stars is just one of the bands associated with Broken Social Scene – but it’s one of the biggest. Playing the Myer Horowitz Theatre Monday night, Stars will be featuring music from their 2017 album, There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light. The group is led by Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan, both of whom […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: USS growing on us
From humble origins as a two clever dudes from Toronto who were hated for daring to mix alternative rock with electronic dance music, USS is starting to grow on us. The signs are all there: Cool hits in high rotation on the radio, on Sonic 102.9 at any rate, and a show at the Ranch […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: No devices at Jack White!
Like communism, a cellphone-free concert experience is a beautiful idea – in theory. In practice, security will be on your ass if you pull it out at Friday’s Jack White concert in Rogers Place. If one makes a rule to benefit the greater public good, one needs to enforce it. Otherwise what’s the point? Communism […]
