The Most Serene Republic may not have the most serene views on suburbia, family values or what it means to be an indie band, but they do have a rockin’ new record which they will be promoting during their concert tomorrow night at the Ale House.

Picture a barn: rural, nondescript, lost in the cold of another Kingston winter. The image conjures up thoughts of perpetual nose-dripping and outfit malfunctions, or perhaps the rekindling of an age-old grudge against Jack Frost.

The boys of the Vancouver-based instrumental hip-hop outfit no luck club (NLC) have been keeping busy. The boys of the Vancouver-based instrumental hip-hop outfit no luck club (NLC) have been keeping busy. After releasing two albums, Happiness in 2003 and Prosperity in 2006, the band is focusing their time on playing festivals and gigs across Canada and the U.S., all the while undertaking two ambitious side projects—a musical and the soundtrack for a video game.

A few steps away from the Wolfe Island ferry, the Island Grill has wood paneling, beer logos and photo collages of local bar regulars—all the makings of a dad’s basement, complete with a conspicuously septic smell.
For the three laid-back bands playing this past Sunday—Blue Heeler, the Superfantastics and Nich Worby—the location couldn’t have been more ideal—particularly for Blue Heeler’s Dick Morello, who used to summer on Wolfe Island.

The Torngat mountains lie along the northern tip of Labrador and are best described as unpredictable.

Much in the vein of the band’s Britrock counterparts Keane and Coldplay, British indie quartet Athlete choose swooping, stretched out melodies and ambient riffs over fast-paced, catchy rock anthems. However this arrangement only works so well for a band who, despite beautiful harmonies, coast into a monotonous no-man’s land of placidity for sections of their new album Beyond The Neighbourhood.

When I reached Elliott Brood’s lead singer, Mark Sasso, on his cell phone, the band was in their tour van on their way to a show in Montreal. Though Sasso held the phone, the raucous interview was a whole-band affair, with Casey Laforet and Stephen Pitkins calling out interruptions and additions each time Sasso spoke.

Walk into Lisa Figg and Anna Elmberg Wright’s show currently on exhibit at the Union Gallery and you’ll be instantly greeted by a thoughtfully uncomfortable aesthetic. The show, titled REfuse_reFUSE, is an expression of both artists’ interests in the environment and the effects of human activity on the natural world.

Unlike most musicians, Craig Cardiff won’t only be hawking plastic-wrapped, jewel-cased editions of his new album Goodnight (Go Home) on his upcoming 60-date tour.
Instead, the Waterloo native wants fans to bring in USB keys to buy a digital download of the album for $10.

When iconic indie act The Rheostatics called it quits after 27 years of warming Canadian rock fans’ hearts, it was a sensible but bittersweet break-up. Fortunately, out of The Rheostatics’ shadow grew bassist Tim Vesley’s new band the Violet Archers.

On the evening of April 6, 1994, over the rolling hills of Kigali, President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda, a Hutu, was killed when his plane was shot down in the city’s skies. His government scattered, his fellow Hutus were enraged and the events that followed were inhuman; the next 100 days of bloodshed were among the most tragic in modern history. In Rwanda, ethnic tension between the Tutsis—the privileged minority under colonialism—and the majority Hutus has existed since the initial Belgian occupation of the country in the early 20th century.

Visual artist KC Adams’ portraits are glamorous, subversive photographs that speak out on many levels, re-envisioning and playing with common perceptions of aboriginal people.

This fall’s Queen’s Players performance might refer to Clark Hall Pub’s closure, but the show’s director, Simon Paabor, isn’t giving anything away.
An Inconvenient Truth About Clark and Dog is currently in rehearsals, gearing up for two weeks of shows in November at Time to Laugh Comedy Club at 394 Princess St.

Performer-poet Sheri-D Wilson, one of Canada’s celebrated experimental artists, is responsible for paving the way for spoken word back in the ’80s. Though performing to the beat of her own drum with unique, jazzy words has garnered the Alberta native recognition, Wilson still forges ahead with her work and focuses on creating thriving artistic communities wherever she is.

The table-top role-playing game, Warhammer 40000, can be won and lost on the value of honour points, earned by killing enemies who were once good but have since become rebellious traiters.
The game—which is played using tiny metal figurines of soldiers and fantasy characters—and the morals and themes that it operates on, are at the centre of Ayaz Kamani’s time-based media installation, Someone Else’s Scene, which opens in the State of Flux room at Modern Fuel on Wednesday.

Toronto rock trio Hunter Valentine bring their gritty sound to the Grad Club tonight as part of EQuIP’s Queerientation. Though this concert marks their first time in Kingston, the band members love the road and have toured southern Ontario extensively.

At The Barricades isn’t just the title of a compilation CD produced by Wolfe Island resident and indie musician Chris Brown. It’s also the mantra for environmental justice group The Lake Ontario Waterkeeper. The grassroots organization, headed by environmental lawyer Mark Mattson, is one of 161 groups working globally to ensure peoples’ three basic rights to drink, swim and fish in clean water. Through negociating the legal system, Mattson and his charity fight, in court, for issues that affect the quality of Lake Ontario’s water.

On Monday night at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto’s east end, grand jury members for the Polaris Prize chose an unlikely candidate for the second year in a row. The award, which goes to the best Canadian album of the year, is based solely on artistic merit and comes with a $20,000 cheque.

It’s not often that small talk before class turns into a festive arts showcase, but for some education students, that’s exactly what happened.
Kate Dickson, ArtSci ’07, was sitting with some friends in a classroom, waiting for their music course to begin and talking about the beautiful weather that stretched from the summer into September.