“These are the future of Saturday Night Live, and television, and movies,” Hannah Crichton, Just For Laughs (JFL) Programming Consultant, said as she introduced the New Faces: Characters show at Montreal’s 34th Annual JFL comedy festival. Comedic all-stars like Hannibal Burress, Amy Schumer, and Kevin Hart were all once featured[Read More…]
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
Album Review: Teens of Denial – Car Seat Headrest
Car Seat Headrest is everything that comes to mind when you think lo-fi indie rock. Will Toledo, the mastermind behind what was originally a one-man-band, created a cult following through Bandcamp before ever getting signed. He already had 10 self-made albums under his belt before[Read More…]
Play Review: Never Swim Alone is much more than absurd
Daniel MacIvor’s Never Swim Alone is an ironic parody of gender as well as a mildly unsettling piece of theatre. Directed by Katey Wattam, Never Swim Alone is not the kind of play an outsider would come to expect from McGill’s Player’s Theatre. Everything about it is minimal in terms[Read More…]
South African musician takes centre stage: St. Lucia on fame and the beauty of pop music
If you are drawn to synth-pop beats, reminiscent of 80s music, your ears would have perked up as St. Lucia kicked off their set at Osheaga. In the sweltering afternoon heat, frontman Jean-Phillip Grobler emerged on Osheaga’s Green Stage, situated at the end of a large dusty field overlooking downtown[Read More…]
Album Review: Blonde – Frank Ocean
Where to listen to Blonde: (Some suggestions) 1. Walking home alone after leaving a disappointing house party. This music makes you feel good if slightly melancholic, like you’re still cool even though that party was not. 2. With your good friends at a beach, park, or lake. These are ideal[Read More…]
Comedian to watch: Aisha Brown
“Let’s hear it for all the black women in tonight’s lineup!” Comedian Aisha Brown opened her set with a sarcastic quip that automatically brought attention to the homogeneity of the lineup at All Access Live with Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart at the 34th annual Just For Laughs comedy festival. Based[Read More…]
Playing it cool: A conversation with Best Coast at Osheaga
Best Coast, a band made up of the striking odd-couple Bobb Bruno and Bethany Cosentino, rose to prominence with their 2010 debut album Crazy For You. Crazy for You is a collection of odes to chilling, smoking, falling in love, and becoming very confused. Their third and latest studio album, California[Read More…]
Comedian to watch: New Face Dino Archie
"This is a safe city. It's a lot of flip flops at night," Vancouver-based comedian Dino Archie joked of Montreal. Archie began an opener set for fellow comedian Jo Koy at the 34th annual Just For Laughs festival with his analysis of the city: "When you leave the house wearing[Read More…]
The Apology: More than just a number
Statistics illustrate the gravity of a situation from the scope of its impact—for instance, over 200,000 women and girls, euphemistically termed ‘comfort women,’ were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. Yet, the individuals affected by these circumstances often get lost in the[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: Blockbusters may be predicting the 2016 US election
It's been pointed out many times that art imitates life, but sometimes the resemblance can be alarmingly uncanny. With the release of this summer’s highly anticipated Captain America: Civil War, Hollywood has given us yet another superhero movie that seems to perfectly capture the tone of the ongoing American presidential[Read More…]