Somewhere in between the beautiful and the profane is the Osheaga Festival Musique et Arts, back for its 10th time. This is to be expected from a festival that has to cater to both its corporate sponsors and a large base of young, passionate music fans. The Tribune is attending[Read More…]
Tag: music
NXNE wrap-up 2015
This past week the Tribune visited North by Northeast (NXNE) in Toronto, the Canadian equivalent to Austin, Texas’ famed South by Southwest (SxSW) Festival, which showcases promising up-and-coming music in locations throughout the city. After taking in five days of indie promos and roof-shaking concerts, we’ve narrowed our experience down[Read More…]
Album Review: Zedd – True Colors
In a recent interview with Mashable, Russian-German EDM artist Zedd was quoted as saying, “To me, certain things sound a certain colour,” and when listening to True Colors, an album of many flavours, this perception becomes obvious. However, the variety and breadth of musical styles[Read More…]
Album Review: Clay & Alex – At Home
At Home marks local Montreal duo Clay & Alex’s debut release and, as the title suggests, is an eight-song album recorded entirely in their apartment. The opener, “Hot Shame,” leads the album off on a relatively calm, yet hopeful note, with something that sounds like a mixture of Bon Iver[Read More…]
From the beat to the brain
Hans Christian Andersen said, “Where words fail, music speaks.” In a similar vein, Victor Hugo stated, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” It’s no secret that music has the power to change us, to uplift in times of joy, and[Read More…]
Peer Review: Busty and the Bass
To most graduating students, April represents the final frontier between the familiar bubble of school and the first step into whatever lies beyond. For the eight remaining members of Busty and the Bass at McGill, who will graduate this spring and join vocalist/saxophonist Nick Ferrara in the real world, the[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: The element of surprise
In the face of rampant piracy, record labels have struggled to convince consumers to spend money on music. More specifically, the album format—once the industry’s largest source of revenue—has become too expensive for the average listener. Consumers’ listening habits are increasingly shifting towards faster, more digestible formats like iTunes’ $0.99[Read More…]
Deep Cuts: Dark Undertones
Chainsaw Artist: Ramones Album: Ramones Released: February 4, 1976 This song begins with a chainsaw. Jonny Ramone’s heavily distorted, relentless guitar keeps up that chainsaw sound throughout—power chords, power chords, and more power chords—and Joey Ramone’s doo-wop, ooooh-oh-oh vocals don’t even try to disguise the fact that the song is[Read More…]
‘Tis the winter of Mike Dubue’s discontent
Mike Dubue, founder and frontman of Ottawa-based experimental indie band Hilotrons, has spent the last few years stylizing discontent. Hilotrons’ latest album, To Trip with Terpsichore, is not so much about anger but more of an overarching dissatisfaction with the way things are. “Each song is relative to a situation,”[Read More…]
Busking for thought
Noah Margo-Dermer worked in a summer camp as a music programming director for the past two summers. After the summer of 2013, Margo-Dermer decided to take a step into the world of busking. “After playing music so much over the summer, I missed it,” he said. “So out of the[Read More…]
