By Anonymous
Have you ever watched uncovered pasta cook in the microwave? The two minutes of dreary rotating occasionally interrupted by the comparatively enthralling explosion of a sauce bubble seems to be the major influence on The Undercurrents’ Demo N. The relatively bland mix of spacey vocals and classic sounding guitar riffs does have the occasional bright… Continue reading The Undercurrents, Demo N
By Adam Goetz
In the spirit of side project experimentation and genre melding, the Transplants give you rap-punk. Hard to imagine, I know, but I can’t describe it any other way.The band was formed in 1999 when Tim Armstrong (who also co-founded Rancid) played a beat he made in his home studio for Rob Aston, who had never… Continue reading Transplants
By Nicole Kobie
Hollywood has produced a lot of strange stories, on-screen and off. Auto Focus is a bit of both. Telling the story of Hogan’s Heroes’ star Bob Crane’s rise to fame, descent to weirdness and eventual murder, Auto Focus is technically a good film. The dialogue is interesting, the acting is compelling, and the writing is… Continue reading Autofocus
By Nicole Kobie
Creativity is dead. In fact, it’s Half Past Dead–whatever that means. It’s easy to blame the behemoth Hollywood movie making machine for such recycled trash, but really, here the shame belongs solely to writer/director Don Michael Paul.Half Past Dead rips off nearly every movie ever made, bad or good. Steven Seagal already paired up with… Continue reading Half Past Dead
Tom Phillips and the Men of Constant Sorrow, Calgary’s most recognizable purveyors of traditional country music, are set to release their second album, The Essential. Local roots music lovers are likely already familiar with the band’s Hank Williams/Lefty Frizzell-style songs about beer, women, and their consequences. And while their new cd doesn’t quite capture the… Continue reading The Men of Constant Sorrow, The Essential
By James Keller
It’s a difficult situation. You’re a fairly seasoned Canadian band–part blues, part rock and a little pop-rock to push it through–and you’ve been asked to open for AC/DC. What’s more, you were asked only because Slash, who was originally on the bill, pulled out at the last minute. Aside from the fact that you’re playing… Continue reading Turning the volume knob to 11
Airing dirty laundry is something most of us try to avoid. But what if you had the chance to laugh at someone else’s for only seven dollars?Dirty Laundry is Calgary’s only completely improvised live soap opera, and is often described as a fusion of a soap opera with the improv show Whose Line is it… Continue reading Fun with Calgary’s Dirty Laundry
By Adam Goetz
You don’t have to look far to find some local talent in Calgary; in fact, one of the founding members of Rum Runner had been sitting beside me in my film class the entire time. Now, to quickly bring you up to speed: Rum Runner recorded their first album independently in April and they are… Continue reading Rum Runner hates Avril Lavigne
By James Keller
“You’re probably going to hack us. I know just by the angle you took with your questions, but that’s cool.”This came casually from Paul Gigliotti, half of Canadian pop duo Wave, after our 45-minute interview, and he didn’t seem at all disconcerted. He knew I was from a university newspaper–hardly the target audience for the… Continue reading Trying to look past the first Wave
By James Keller
Students now have the chance to be on TV. It’s like MuchMusic’s Speaker’s Corner, but instead of being in the CHUM building or travelling in a mall, NUTV’s Speak Tank is in the bottom of MacEwan Student Centre. And instead of being a corner, it’s a big metal tank.NUTV took an old instant photo booth… Continue reading No, it’s not a photo booth