Arranged in a fairly straightforward manner around the perimeter of the gallery, the works in Traces begin to the left of the entrance, leading viewers clockwise around the space. There is a natural order and flow to the works and their relatively small scale invites patrons to come closer and inspect them, rather than forcing themselves into view.
Toronto-area indie rockers Casper Skulls are back from a four-year hiatus since their debut record Mercy Works, with their harsh edges dulled and their spirits wizened. Originally drawing comparison to noisy art rock legends like Pavement and Sonic Youth, their new album Knows No Kindness brings influence from ’70s folk rock and alt-country, with widescreen expansiveness and a renewed focus on songwriting and storytelling.
The popular phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is perhaps the best way to summarize the events that happened between July 2017 and May 2018 in Markham, Ont. On a July morning that fateful year, the residents of Cathedraltown — a residential neighbourhood of Markham — awoke to find a giant chrome cow on 25-foot tall stilts in the parkette that acts as a front lawn to some houses on Charity Crescent.
Winnipeg-based writer and former Manitoban contributor Alex Passey has just released Shadow of the Desert Sun. Published in September, this “sword and sorcery fantasy” is Passey’s second novel to date.
Littleworlds, the second album by Michael Falk’s solo project Touching, has grand aspirations. Falk points to dramatic, anthemic rock bands like Frightened Rabbit and Manchester Orchestra, freak folk auteur Richard Dawson and trip-hop legends Massive Attack as primary influences. A wide range of touchpoints, but oddly apt, in a sense.
Olivia Norquay, local horror aficionado and host of the feminist horror radio show BIKINI DRIVE-IN, is the most recent addition to the programming staff at the Winnipeg Film Group’s illustrious arthouse theatre, the Cinematheque. Since her hiring in April, Norquay has made her presence felt with a number of great showings and live post-screening discussions with her and BIKINI DRIVE-IN co-host Jill Groening.
After a theatre drought going on nigh two years, Prairie Theatre Exchange (PTE) has opened its doors to smaller, vaccinated audiences for the world premiere of The War Being Waged, written and co-directed by Manitoban playwright Darla Contois.
In The Unravelling: Incest and the Destruction of a Family, Besel documents the stresses — physical, emotional and financial — on her life from 1992 to 1995 as she navigates the trials of bringing her father to justice for the sexual and violent crimes he committed against his wife and children.
Astrocolor has their mind set on one thing in their new album, Paradise: a relaxing beachside vacation. Though hailing from the not-exactly-tropical city of Victoria, B.C., they nevertheless channel all the island life energy they can muster. Press photos show the appropriately middle-aged band in pastel button-downs, slim-fit khakis, tasteful Ray-Bans and boat shoes with no socks, enjoying the sunlight and laughing with drinks in their hands.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to accentuate inequalities in the so-called “developed” world, women’s stories have taken the spotlight. From the inequalities of the workplace to those of household labour and parenting, these stories bring to light the lack of employer and governmental assistance in these matters.