It’s easy to trivialize pop music, or dismiss it as something intrinsically lesser than “real music." It can seem banal, and focus on catchiness in lieu of explicit meaning. But those criticisms often miss the point of the genre. At its best, a pop song isn’t about a message, per[Read More…]
Arts & Entertainment
Keep up to date on local art, new albums, and everything entertainment-related.
Comedian Yamaneika Saunders opens up at Just For Laughs 2017
It’s festival season in Montreal, and some of the greatest comedians from across the globe are pouring into the city for the annual Just for Laughs (JFL) festival. Among them is Yamaneika Saunders, a New York-based stand-up comic who has been pleasing crowds with her bold, dynamic nature for over[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: OKNOTOK is not what rock and roll needs right now
For all their talk about being so vehemently anti-capitalist, and–by proxy–true to their art, Radiohead loves a good gimmick. It was around this time last year, for example, just days before the release of their first album in seven years, that the British rock band effectively erased themselves from the[Read More…]
From the viewpoint: Montreal Sketchfest
Being funny is not easy. Being funny when people expect you to make them laugh is even harder. Fortunately for us, Montreal attracts humble masters of the art of comedy: Performers who know how to perfectly create humor through the juxtaposition of injury and cheer, but who do not pretend[Read More…]
Banks speaks to all the senses at Le Metropolis
It didn’t take long for listeners to latch onto Jillian Banks, better known simply by her last name: Banks. Her sound is an amalgamation of pop and R&B with a spooky techno-alternative twist; her visuals are dark and laden with metaphors; her style is sleek, seductive, and minimalist. After releasing[Read More…]
The Lost City of Z – Review
True historical epics have been lacking in recent years, as many of the latest film attempts have fallen flat (Ben Hur, King Arthur). Director James Gray’s breathtaking new film The Lost City of Z, however, proves that the genre still has much potential. The story, which spans more than 20[Read More…]
A roundtable discussion on the Girls finale
HBO’s Girls aired for the last time on April 16. The series finale, titled “Latching” which garnered a wide array of reactions from film and TV critics, featured main character Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) in the early stages of motherhood, assisted by her best friend Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams). In[Read More…]
Performing without conforming: Pianist Jan Lisiecki on why classical music isn’t dead
Twenty-two-year-old Calgary pianist Jan Lisiecki is far from being a slacker. After making his orchestral debut at age nine, the musician rose to international fame once The Fryderyk Chopin Institute released a recording of his live renditions of Chopin’s piano concertos. Four albums later, he now performs roughly 80 times[Read More…]
Vince Staples dazzles with Life Aquatic Tour at the Corona Theatre
It hasn’t taken long for Vince Staples to carve out his lane in the West Coast gangsta rap scene. After a slew of teenage mixtapes, as well as a few features on early Odd Future releases, Staples broke through to the mainstream hip-hop consciousness with his 2014 EP, Hell Can[Read More…]
Art history student takes art to the streets under pseudonym Sloast
Instead of hibernating in McLennan, the student artist known as Sloast has spent her graduating year steadily building up a fan base. With 1,300 Instagram followers, her support is strong and growing. She was featured in The Market Cooperative in the Students’ Society McGill University’s (SSMU) ballroom where she first[Read More…]
