Canada
Suuns/ Gyratory System, Corsica Studios, LondonMonday, 16 May 2011
It took until the fourth song of their set for Suuns to take off. Lurching into “PVC”, the Montréal quartet gelled. Monolithic drums, pounding, relentless bass guitar and slabs of sheet-metal guitar rolled off the stage. Harnessing the power of... Read more... |
Ron Sexsmith/ Jim White, BarbicanSunday, 01 May 2011
Two cult singers on the same bill. A stirring prospect in itself, but last night they were both also at watersheds in their careers. The headliner, Ron Sexsmith, was looking to cultivate a more mainstream audience. He’s had his moments over the... Read more... |
The Blue Dragon, Barbican TheatreSaturday, 19 February 2011
Forked lightning glimpsed through an aeroplane window, a silken dancer spilling stars in a snow-filled sky, a dragon tattoo etched on a man’s back: we’ve grown to expect seductive alchemy of images from the work of Quebecois master of visual theatre... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Director Robert LepageSaturday, 29 January 2011
Robert Lepage is not just one of the most fêted and sought-after theatre directors in the world; he is also one of the most prolific. His international breakthrough came with The Dragon Trilogy in 1985, and since then the French-Canadian’s work has... Read more... |
Barney's VersionTuesday, 25 January 2011
Canadian writer Mordecai Richler’s eclectic contribution to film includes uncredited work on Room at the Top, the screenplay for Fun with Dick and Jane and the original book behind Richard Dreyfuss’s early success The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz... Read more... |
Arcade Fire, O2 ArenaFriday, 03 December 2010
One of the great pleasures of watching live music lies in witnessing the joy that people get from making it; to experience a great live band in their prime, to see them interacting with each other, feeding off each other, pushing each other on, is a... Read more... |
Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire, BBC FourFriday, 19 November 2010
The renaissance enjoyed by Leonard Cohen over the past few years is not only thoroughly welcome and entirely justified, but also partly a testament to the strange and powerful alchemy that sometimes occurs when the defiantly high-brow is swallowed... Read more... |
Scott Pilgrim vs The WorldTuesday, 24 August 2010
Far be it from me to complain when the eternal geek is reborn as a man of action. But perhaps I'm not sufficiently a video game kinda guy - Okay, let's come clean, I've never played one - to get into Scott Pilgrim vs The World, the inoffensively if... Read more... |
The Besnard Lakes, The GarageThursday, 19 August 2010
Although The Arcade Fire are currently occupying column inches on the back of their new album The Suburbs, it’s fellow Montréal band The Besnard Lakes that are over here, playing dates on the back of their recent third album The Besnard Lakes are... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Toronto: Luminato Hosts Wainwright and MalkovichSunday, 20 June 2010
To get a feel for whether an arts festival has truly penetrated a city’s psyche, it helps to strike up a conversation with local Starbucks baristas. That’s why I was grateful to be asked one recent evening in Toronto, “So what exactly is Luminato... Read more... |
The Seckerson Tapes: Pianist Janina FialkowskaTuesday, 25 May 2010
Canadian-born pianist Janina Fialkowska has an extraordinary story to tell: she's battled cancer in the muscle of her left shoulder, endured ground-breaking muscle-replacement surgery, and even, in another bizarre twist of fate, had her work "stolen... Read more... |
Woodpigeon, Union ChapelThursday, 06 May 2010
Listening to Woodpigeon’s nuanced indie-folk, I looked around at the 300 or so strong crowd who had also chosen to spend the evening away from Peter Snow and his Swingometer. Some had their eyes closed, others were gently nodding, but mainly they... Read more... |
