The Black Seeds hit dirt

When New Zealand dub/funk/soul band The Black Seeds are on the road, what gets them through to their next gig might be a little surprising. “The asphalt on the road is what takes me to the next gig,” jokes the band’s bassist, Tim Jaray. “But, actually, listening to Bruce Springsteen’s album Nebraska while driving on [...]

Rococode fuse melody with spontaneity

Lots of people claim, sometimes in an incorrect and hyperbolic manner, that music is their life. But when it comes to Laura Smith, vocalist and keyboardist of the Vancouver-based pop-rock sensation Rococode, music really always has been her life. “I played piano since I was really little,” she says. “It got to the point where [...]

Climbing film explores human ambition via Mount Everest

Climbing Mount Everest is an unattainable dream for many people, unless you have $100,000. It used to be that a climber would spend many gruelling years in training before approaching Mount Everest; now all you need is money. Documentary filmmaker Dianne Whelan spent 40 days at the base of Mount Everest documenting the climbing season [...]

New Music Revue: April 4, 2012 issue

Hey Mother Death Hey Mother Death (Divorce Records) 2.5/5 The first release by Halifax/Paris-based duo Hey Mother Death is a dark, atmospheric soundscape. But Hey Mother Death are largely inaccessible and far too on-the-fringe for most listeners. The EP begins with the compelling and moody instrumental “You Left Me.” Dark, eerie synths, a slow, resonant, [...]

Local, Live, and Loud: April 4-10

Friday, April 6 The Sentimentals, Lovers, Capital Region Logans, $8, 9:30 pm Lovers had one of my favourite releases of 2010, and, to my understanding, the release went virtually untouched. Darklight is a fantastic album and has some really enjoyable, mellow pop songs. The trio has a lot of energy and emotion behind their music. [...]

High-school poetry slammers to claim victory

There won’t be any dusting off of tomes or reciting of iambic pentameter at Victorious Voices, the third annual high-school poetry slam championships. Instead, teams of students from six Greater Victoria high schools will perform spoken-word poems for a panel of judges including mayor Dean Fortin and poet laureate Janet Rogers. The performances will be [...]

Brian Jackson: “A conductor is really like a glorified traffic cop.”

Brian Jackson has been conducting orchestras for over half a century. The British-Canadian conductor, organist, and pianist has conducted since he was a teenager in the 1950s. And when the Canadian College of Performing Arts teams up with the Victoria Symphony for their upcoming Broadway Spectacular, it will celebrate Jackson’s retirement. Born in Cornwall—the southwestern-most [...]

Electric Six still kicking it

It’s a shame when rock bands that take a playful stylistic stance, like The Darkness or Andrew W.K., fulfill the prophecies of their critics and disappear after a couple of novel hits. Bands that are serious about having fun can have trouble holding the public’s attention. LMFAO might just buck this trend but, unfortunately, Electric [...]

Longwalkshortdock comes full circle

A childhood deeply immersed in gaming has come full circle for Dave King, the Vancouver-based electronic musician better known as Longwalkshortdock. “Growing up, those video games were what was the most interesting to me,” he says. “Other than sports and school, vids were my main interest because I didn’t really give a damn about girls [...]

Music/theatre troupe tackles Waits

L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres (LODHO) is a band of one-man bands: six of them, to be precise. And the half-band, half-theatre troupe (made up of Québec City natives) are taking a shot at Tom Waits on their current tour. “We’re six people working together around the notion of being a one-man band, which to us means being [...]

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