From college friends to unlikely hit-makers, Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser of MGMT have had a strange, swift career trajectory. Their debut album, 2008’s Oracular Spectacular, spawned three increasingly massive singles (“Electric Feel,” “Time to Pretend” and “Kids”) and appeared on Rolling Stone’s “Best Albums of the Decade” list. Even fashion label Gucci joined [...]
Album in review: Angus & Julia Stone – Down The Way
March 30 marks the release of Angus and Julia Stone’s second album, Down the Way. It’s been three years since the Aussie sibling duo released their debut album, A Book Like This, in 2007. For fans of the debut album’s tracks, “Just a Boy,” “Stranger,” and “A Book Like This,” Down the Way offers more. [...]
Albums in review: Rufus Wainright- All Days and Nights
Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright is often praised for his theatrical voice and lavishly arranged songs. But on his latest album, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, the music is noticeably stripped down. Just him and a piano, with Wainwright expertly balancing English and French language songs. Perhaps best known for his take on the Leonard [...]
Throwing students forth
A crowd filtered in and out of the Blackwood Gallery in the Kaneff Centre last Wednesday evening. Graduate students, Sheridan faculty, proud parents, curious bystanders, journalists and photographers packed the small space. They met there to open the student-run Thrown Forth, a successful showing for the Art and Art History program. Thrown Forth offers graduating [...]
Album in review: Submarine by Scanners
There is no such thing as band obscurity these days, despite what their names might suggest. Take, for example, the London indie outfit, Scanners. So what? But if I tell you that they are signed to Steve Aoki’s record label, have had their music featured in episodes of Entourage and One Tree Hill, have toured [...]
Album in review: Spoon’s Transference
As a band, Spoon has paid its dues. Formed in 1994, they just released Transference, their seventh studio album. Their previous album, 2007s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and its horn-infused hit, The Underdog (which even made its way into the soundtrack of last years Zac Efron vehicle, 17 Again), earned the Texas natives deserved [...]
Beauty in the breakdown
The construction of art is a multi-layered process. An initial stroke of inspiration, some preliminary drawings, an assemblage of materials and a whole lotta coffee come together as the key ingredients of many artistic endeavours, including the Blackwood Gallery’s latest exhibition, Location! Location! Location!, which opened last Wednesday. A project that required the construction of [...]
Haven’t you heard?
EITHER OR ELLIOT SMITH I am always surprised when someone tells me they havent heard of Elliott Smith. To be fair, he was only in the spotlight for a second when he got an Oscar nod for Miss Misery (featured in Good Will Hunting) and, of course, when he killed himself a few years back. [...]
Record in review
Upon listening to a few seconds of any Vampire Weekend song, it doesnt take long to realize that the bands name is clearly a misnomer. Any preconceived notions of emo dreariness are instead replaced with images of bright-coloured sombreros, long drives along the coast and hillside orchestral performances. Mellow, youthful and fun are just a [...]
Winter chills, movie thrills
The winter of 2009 saw a number of blockbuster releases that both generated large revenues at the box office and left behind a trail of mystique in theatres. From the legacy of enigmatic personas to worlds of fantasy, Sherlock Holmes, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Avatar were able to capture the magic of the [...]
