Osheaga 2019 saw no shortage of exciting acts from around the world, so Québécoise singer Josie Boivin, better known by her moniker Munya, found herself at home at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Hailing from Saguenay, Quebec, Boivin trained professionally in opera, and then briefly in jazz voice at the Université de Montréal[Read More…]
Music
Overlooked at Osheaga: Four acts you shouldn’t miss
With big acts such as Tame Impala and Kaytranada gracing the Osheaga main stages, it is easy to overlook the lesser-known artists who are playing the afternoon slots. All the while, this year’s lineup boasts a breadth of up-and-coming artists covering diverse genres and styles, and it would be remiss[Read More…]
‘Sunday Service’ is a sonic delight crippled by contradiction
At 9:00 a.m. on the morning of Easter Sunday, Kanye West led the first public ‘Sunday Service‘ from atop a grassy hill at Coachella. This unconventional, but overtly Christian take on Easter was not the artist’s foray into the spiritual: Accessible only to those on a Hollywood guest list, weekly[Read More…]
Lucy’s Mirror makes concert debut at L’escalier
On March 21, Lucy’s Mirror took to the small stage at L’escalier, a local bar and vegetarian restaurant known for hosting live music events. Composed of five McGill students, the band performed two hour-long sets for friends and curious strangers. For those in the audience, the show was a musical[Read More…]
March music madness
The month of March saw no shortage of music releases. Both Hozier and Weezer made their comebacks—one triumphant, the other less so—and Solange’s When I Get Home awed Country and R&B fans alike. The final two weeks of this tepid, rainy month have provided us with two more treasures: One from[Read More…]
Maggie Rogers gives more than a little
Some artists shine the brightest on their records and others on stage. On March 22 at MTelus, Maggie Rogers did both, breathing new life into her performance of the songs from her major label debut, Heard It In a Past Life, further electrifying the already impressive recorded tracks. In this[Read More…]
Chai’s ‘PUNK’ is the much-needed antidote to the drudgery of our daily lives
There is a tragically narrow vision of what contemporary East Asian music should sound like. Often lumped into vague, generalized categories such as ‘J-Pop’ or ‘K-Pop,’ Western critics have a tendency to consider the ethnic groupings of Asian musical production first and foremost, often obscuring the lyrical and technical aspects[Read More…]
Anderson .Paak’s masterful balancing act
It feels like just yesterday that Anderson .Paak released his long-anticipated Oxnard, a decidedly summery album for the middle of November. The album received mostly positive reviews, although some critics bemoaned its eclectic and aimless nature. Still, .Paak has always had a gift for straddling the line between hip hop[Read More…]
Solange’s ‘When I Get Home’ is an avant-garde celebration of black excellence
Three years after the striking A Seat at the Table (2016), Solange released her fourth album, When I Get Home, on March 1. Accompanied by a short eponymous film, the album is an homage to the artist’s Houston roots, her birthplace, and the city’s black pioneers. A notable departure from her last studio[Read More…]
Weezer stumbles into pop music with ‘Weezer (The Black Album)’
Before even pressing ‘play,’ Weezer’s Weezer (The Black Album) tempts listeners to write the album off immediately. With The Black Album, released on March 3, the band tried to emulate meme culture, adding a spork into the packaging of pre-ordered copies, and even making a cameo in the game Fortnite. These gimmicks[Read More…]
