I officially declare the camera phone a scourge. At every show, there's a forest of video-enabled dorks up front, not watching nor listening, just furiously taping in the hope of catching a flub or fly down for YouTube. The addiction to capturing video of every moment of a show is, to my mind, a narcissistic impulse that degrades the magical ephemera of the live experience. I'm agin' it.... Read More

The fourth iteration of Calgary's Sled Island feels like a coming of age, with the annual event becoming a destination on the Canadian festival landscape alongside NXNE and Pop Montreal. The organizers have a knack for scoring scheduling coups (year one featured Boredoms, Cat Power and Spoon), and w... Full Review

In the middle of an open field, you can hear music from everywhere, particularly the DJ stage situated in the centre. Almost 200 bands have gathered here to play on seven stages, each only about 100 metres from the next, causing sound to bleed all over. For veteran music fans, it's a familiar scene: scantily clad women offer Red Bull and vodka, dreadlocked white hippies entrance themselves with their spin-dancing, and if you don't like a given band, more options are only an aimless wander away.... Read More