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The Sharp Ends / Thee Thems / Wicked Awesomes The Broken City, Calgary AB November 14 By Aubrey McInnis While the Wicked Awesomes were down a bass player and a pair of shoes, the Edmonton psychedelic garage rockers still managed to coax a wolf howl sing-along during the crowd favourite “Fighting the Wolf Spirit.” Thee Thems were up next with one of the most creatively driven and invigorating instrumental sets of the year. Sprightly keys and relentless percussion made for a contagiously upbeat set, but the real star of the show was the thick, jagged, post-rock guitar darting all over the place in a delicious hook fest. Attention grabbing sounds were coming everywhere - particularly from the guitar, which diabolically plotted an incessant attack from all angles. Like kicking around nearly-dead road kill, false stops toyed with the audience and revealed the band’s sense of humour and tight control of their quick half-hour set. However, the shape-shifting keyboard was the insolent brat of the band and, at one point, it sounded as if the keys and the bass were at each others’ throats. High-pitched and squalling, the keys were like an annoying bug you wanted to swat away from your face and may have unfairly distracted from the more palatable low-end grumble of the band. Eventually, the keys inventively found their place later on as they squealed through the thick buzz of the rhythm section before quickly dropping a few octaves to growl away underneath the din. A multi-headed and unpredictable beast, Thee Thems are a formidable force, easily one of the brightest new bands on the scene and is making instrumental music exciting again. The headlining spot of the night was reserved for the highly-anticipated debut of the Sharp Ends. Featuring former members of Calgary favourites, the Ostrich, expectations were sky high for the new quartet. Armed with one of the most electric and engaging front-men of the scene, Chris Zajko, the band brought together everything cool that came out of the late ‘80s with a feverish Ian Curtis intonation and a surprisingly full and fresh sound. Tight and intensely focused, the Sharp Ends sounded like a band with five albums already under their belt. Moody and fully dedicated to having a rock exorcism on stage, they brought back Michael Williams’ Life on Indie Street, lovingly reinvented and imaginatively modified for a new generation.

Halifax Pop Explosion Within a festival full of highlights, there was one show that rose above the rest. The wildly hard rocking Israeli group Monotonix descended on the crowd and proceeded to tear shit up. Singer Ami Shalev rubbed his sweaty torso all over the audience, spending the majority of the show swimming ...Read More

Apostle of Hustle and Tanya Tagaq Instead of acting as a traditional opening act, this special CBC-presented concert had the pint-sized Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq collaborating with the Apostle of Hustle crew. After a warning that her capabilities were at about 30 percent after blowing her voice out at a recent show, ...Read More

Premiata Forneria Marconi / Low Level Flight
Heathen Crusade
Asobi Seksu / Flowers of Hell
D.O.A.
Daniel Lanois
Deerhunter / Times New Viking
El Guincho / No Gold
Every Time I Die/ The Bronx / Stick To Your Guns / Gone Hollywood
Fucked Up / Sex Vid / Quest for Fire / Demon’s Claws / Jack of Hearts
Girl Talk / The Death Set / CX KiDTRONiK & KraK attacK
Glass Candy
The Herbaliser with More or Les
The Holy Steady / Drive-by Truckers
Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs / Buddy McNeil & the Magic Mirrors
John Holt
Justin Rutledge / Jenn Grant / Jody Glenham
Kathleen Edwards and John Doe
Kings of Leon / We Are Scientists / The Whigs
M83
Matt & Kim / Best Fwends
Odetta
Quest for Fire / Hot Live Guys / War Elephant
Roy Ayers
Senses Fail / Dance Gavin Dance / Sky Eats Airplane / Foxy Shazam
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks / Blitzen Trapper
X Avant
Today I Caught The Plague / Arise and Ruin / Straight Reads the Line
Today Is The Day / Vilipend
We Are Wolves / Pas Chic Chic
Zaki Ibrahim


Hostage Life - Centre Of The Universe It's unfortunate the words "maturity" and "growth" are stigmas in the world of punk rock. They would be the perfect descriptors for Toronto, ON-based Hostage Life's tertiary release. Maintaining the adage that a band never realize their true potential until their third album, the quintet prove thems... Full Review


Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant Dir. by Paul Weitz In an interesting twist of Hollywood fate, Chris and Paul Weitz have entered the final stretch of 2009 each in control of a major vampire franchise built from the pages of popular young adult fiction. From one half of the brotherly team who brought us American Pie and About ... Full Review


The Brütal Legend of Tim Schafer Game designer Tim Schafer is not a well-known man, at least not to the mainstream. But like Buffy creator Joss Whedon, Schafer's a full-blown hero amongst the geek-pop set, his name synonymous with creative vision, critical acclaim, fervent fans and, alas, sub-par sales.... Read More





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