New Music Revue: Noah Wall’s machine music

Noah Wall Print the Legend (Driftless Recordings) 4/5 Noah Wall’s soundtrack for the documentary Print the Legend blends instrumentals with dream-like technological sounds. The songs, which aren’t longer than a minute or two, are mesmerizing. I listened to the album without any knowledge of the manufacturing and industrial elements of the film, and I was […]

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Dickens holiday classic gets unique local treatment

Kelt Eccleston is somewhat of a local celebrity; he’s been a local musician for “too many years to count,” he says, and also keeps busy as an actor. The last notable performance Eccleston has done was a Belfry Theatre production of the homelessness-themed Home Is a Beautiful Word, but this time he’s starring in a […]

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University of Victoria students mount entirely German play

Students in UVic’s Performing German Drama class are readying a two-night run of a dark comedy entitled Der Besuchen der alten Dame (roughly translated to The Visitor), performed entirely in German. And if that sounds like a vast undertaking, it’s because it totally is, according to UVic student Caitlin Burritt, who performs two supporting roles […]

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Directors of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs embrace darkness in art

When someone says the word “director,” images of Broadway and Hollywood come to mind. But speaking to director Naomi Simpson, images of prison replace all thoughts of celebrity life. No, she’s not an inmate, but she has directed shows in Victoria at William Head Institution. And despite her unique directing background, she hasn’t been doing […]

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Themes in classic tale of Camelot still ring true today

When the curtain rises on a new production of Camelot, Victorians will get a chance for some time travel. The musical brings King Arthur’s Round Table, with costumes, music, chivalrous knights and all, to life in song, drama, and humour. The storyline of the Victoria Symphony/Pacific Opera Victoria c0-production explores the fallout from a love […]

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Tokyo Police Club forced to change with the times

It’s been a four-year wait for the release of Tokyo Police Club’s ForceField, and during that time the band have gained some new perspectives on the music industry. It was important to the band to take the time to produce an album that reflected their development and to push themselves, says keyboardist Graham Wright, and […]

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New Music Revue: Chic Gamine make Christmas music tolerable

Chic Gamine Christmas Vol. 1 (Independent) 4/5 I usually find Christmas music tacky and quite annoying, but Chic Gamine has changed my mind. The band, which features members from Winnipeg and Montreal, offers up a modern take on the genre while still maintaining their soulful harmonies and old-school Motown vibes. My French is not quite […]

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Britain’s BalletBoyz make rare stop in Canada

When 10 men from Britain hit the Royal Theatre stage this month, they may be built like Marines (one was even planning on joining the Marines before he found his passion) but they’re actually professional ballet dancers. The BalletBoyz transform all previous notions of ballet into a masculine display of strength. Billy Trevitt and Michael […]

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Downtown Mischief’s community

Some of the best bands start as people just jamming together. In the case of Downtown Mischief, a local funk/rap band that’s been creating beats and sharing their soulful rhythms over the past few years, jamming is how it all began. “We met through jam parties,” Jameson Daniels, one of the band’s main singers, says. […]

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New Music Revue: Recent round of Led Zeppelin reissues reminds of rock relevance

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV Houses of the Holy (Atlantic Records) 5/5 A perfect 5/5 rating? Sure: these are reissues of two of the best rock albums ever created. To help clarify things, we’ve provided a step-by-step walkthrough of the thought process that went down during the listening process. It’s not easy, as discussed during […]

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