Arts

For a smaller city, Victoria is lucky to play host to a surprisingly large number of art festivals. Out of all of them, Antimatter Film Festival just might be the most diverse. The festival’s two founders, Todd Eacrett and Deborah de Boer, were involved with what is now known as the Victoria Film Festival when […]

Author Sandra Steiner is looking to answer some difficult questions about loss, grief, and recovery with her writing. An Albertan transplant, Steiner has lived in Victoria for four years and has just finished two novels in her Spring Island trilogy. “I’ve always wanted to write a book; it’s been on my mind since I was […]

Walking into the Hiraki Sawa exhibit Under the Box, Beyond the Bounds, currently on at the Greater Victoria Art Gallery, is like walking into a familiar place you’ve never been to before. Throughout the exhibit, video screens and projectors, from the size of a wallet to the size of a wall, display images and landscapes, […]

California-based twin brothers Fletcher and Wyatt Shears have impressed and confused the music world in equal amounts since they began their band The Garden in 2011. The Garden are anything but a normal punk band, and they definitely have their own style, rocking an overtly feminine wardrobe and blasting songs just over a minute long […]

“It’s hard to be an Indian woman in this fucking country,” says character Emily Dictionary during the Belfry Theatre’s production of The Rez Sisters. The play, written by Manitoban playwright Tomson Highway, is set on an Indian reserve where seven women cross on conflicting paths that throw them into humorous and turbulent (and defining) situations. […]

Counting Crows Somewhere Under Wonderland (Capitol Records) 4/5 For their sixth studio album, pure American rockers Counting Crows have taken a step back, with fantastic results. Their last album was back in 2008, after all; they’ve had time to rethink what makes them great, and here they deliver with astonishing results from the second the […]

U2 Songs of Innocence (Island) 2/5 If you use an Apple product, you may already own U2’s new album, even if you don’t realize it (check your iTunes!). This is the 13th album by the rock band, but it doesn’t have the same classic rock quality as their past albums. Songs of Innocence is an […]

The Aislers Set Reissues (Slumberland/Suicide Squeeze) 2/5 San Francisco indie pop group The Aislers Set, who formed in 1997 and disbanded in 2004, have reissued three albums to coincide with their reunion tour. Unfortunately, this trilogy of discs was lost on me after listening to Terrible Things Happen, which held terribly true to its title. […]

VKNGS VKNGS (Noyes Records/Acadian Embassy Records) 3.5/5 Halifax, Nova Scotia-based post-hardcore/noise-rock band VKNGS have released a full-length self-titled debut album that’s been eight years in the making. The album, with seemingly random numerical track titles, is an intense mix of drums and guitar, melody, and screaming, otherwise known as “aggression.” VKNGS have a more mature […]