Since 2004, Beach House has been the leader of the dream-pop scene with slow, simple pop melodies layered over lush soundscapes to create achingly beautiful songs of love and longing. Vocalist Victoria Legrand and guitarist/keyboardist Alex Scally have crafted a winning sound that is completely their own, and with Teen Dream it seems they’ve truly perfected it.
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
CD REVIEWS: Yeasayer: Odd Blood
If the African- and Middle Eastern-tinged flavour of Yeasayer’s 2007 debut All Hour Cymbals impressed you, get ready to be transported by their sophomore effort, Odd Blood. Yeasayer leaves the tribal aesthetic behind for an electronic vibe, with distorted vocals, synth, and pounding bass lines.
Oscars 2010: The shoo-ins, the underdogs, and the buzz-worthy
You’ve got 26 days until the Academy Awards, so here’s the buzz and predictions you need to know so you can decide which films to catch up on in the weeks leading up to the Oscars. BEST PICTURE This year the Academy has selected 10 motion pictures as candidates for Best Picture, instead of the usual five.
POP RHETORIC: R.I.P. MTV
The Buggles need to come out with a new one-hit wonder: “Internet Killed the Video Star.” This is the sad but true fate that our music age has come to. Remember when VH1 only played new music videos? How about MTV? Or MuchMusic? For the latter, you may be thinking, “but MuchMusic still plays music videos.
STANDing tall against genocide
Since 2003, a reported 400,000 murders have taken place in Darfur, Sudan, at the hands of the state-sponsored militia, the Janjaweed, and their campaign of ethnic cleansing. While the main violence has ended – there are few villages left to burn – the atrocity has displaced over 2.
Everybody’s a terrorist in From Paris With Love
Pierre Morel’s new film From Paris With Love is exceptionally tasteless. Admittedly, action movies are meant to be vile concoctions of guns, cars, drugs, and racial/sexual stereotypes, but From Paris With Love is so strikingly problematic that it cannot be considered a harmless testosterone-fuelled fantasy.
CD REVIEWS: OK Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
You may know OK Go from their infamous viral videos on YouTube – including the treadmill dance routine in “Here it Goes Again” – from their previous album Oh No. Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is the latest album from the unique digital rock band. The album starts out with a Prince-like track, appropriately titled “WTF?” OTBCOTS is a departure from their first two albums, with a funkier, dancier sound.
The Luyas are breaking all the rules
The Luyas are on cop watch. At least that’s what lead singer/guitarist Jessie Stein says as she attempts to drive and talk to me on the phone at the same time – an illegal activity. Add in the fact that it’s snowing, and I start to get worried that this interview could be hazardously cut short – which would be a tragedy for one of Montreal’s most promising bands, especially one with so much on the horizon.
The miracle in print
The Daily Miracle is the second play from former Montreal Gazette copy editor David Sherman. Sherman began writing in 2004, when he was a playwright-in-residence at the Centaur Theatre by day and a copy editor by night. The play departs from the traditional fictional focus on investigative reporters to take a look at life behind the editing desk.
CD REVIEWS: Basia Bulat: Heart of My Own
It’s clear from the opening track of Heart of My Own, the follow-up to her Polaris-nominated debut Oh My Darling, that Basia Bulat isn’t content with her previous success – she’s trying to soar to new heights. As a singer whose music too often gets the “sweet” label (which it undoubtedly is), it’s refreshing to hear her really going for it.
