Arts

To his friends and family he is Omara Moctar; to his fans he is Bombino. But these are just names, titles given to him and placed upon him. So, who is Bombino? Well, the word “bombino” means “baby” in Italian, a dubbing that occurred when Moctar was the youngest member of his group when he […]

Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal (Universal Music) 3/5   My Head Is an Animal, the debut album from Icelandic indie folk group Of Monsters and Men, is full of anthems, reverb, layers, and choirs. It also sounds an awful lot like a band you may have heard before. “Dirty Paws” sounds […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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, […]

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 […]