RSS

Hosted by Patricia Petit Liang

Stories by Jeremiah Ho, Michael Foldvari & Patricia Petit Liang

Produced by Patricia Petit Liang

LOCAL
By Jeremiah Ho

18 year old Daphné Boudreault was killed by her ex-boyfriend on Wednesday after she went to their shared apartment to collect her some of her belongings.  

According to CBC News, Boudreault had been accompanied by a police officer and her mother for protection, but was murdered in front of them as soon as she entered the home.

Anthony Pratte-Lops has been charged with first-degree murder following this tragedy.

NATIONAL
By Michael Foldvari

Toronto's police watchdog has decided that it will bring no charges against police officers, following their investigation of an incident that caused the death of 43-year-old, Rodrigo Almonacid Gonzalez on Thursday.

According to CTV News, the civilian oversight unit saw that officers had exhausted all possible opportunities to non-violently deescalate the situation, and were therefore justified in using tasers.

Gonzalez was tasered 5 times by one officer and 3 times by another officer before he was subdued and taken to a hospital, where he died the next day.     

INTERNATIONAL
By Patricia Petit Liang

5 people were killed in London by a British-born man on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, 52-year old Adrian Russell was shot dead following his attack and had previous convictions for grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and a variety of other public order offences.

Those who were lost on Wednesday include police officer Keith Palmer, 75 year old Leslie Rhodes, mother Aysha Frade and US tourist Kurt W. Cochran, whose wife Melissa was seriously injured in the attack.

The evening started off slow with myself making my way to the venue, feeling really excited. Since the Stade Uniprix is a fairly new place, I had no expectations on how it was going to be; how big it was or how many people it could hold. Getting off at De Castelnau metro station, I noticed people were looking for the way to get to the venue, and I just followed the crowd. As soon as I saw the stadium, a huge line had already started since doors had opened and it was endless. I was thinking to myself, “holy cow, this is gonna be huge.”

After waiting to get inside, I quickly managed to get to where the show was happening. I did not know where to go since it was a new venue and all, but I soon managed to find the stage where Beartooth were setting up; it was a small stage, but the room had the capacity to hold lots and lots of people.

Beartooth

I really liked Beartooth as a opener—despite not seeing them at Heavy MTL last year, I had the chance to check them out this time. They have unique style of play, core grooves and really heavy breakdowns. I liked the chemistry the band had on stage between each and every band member; they were all interacting with one another and going crazy.

Their was quite a handful of mosh pits, but luckily I didn’t get stuck in them, or else I would have been destroyed! I myself don’t like mosh pits since I could easily get hurt. Just picture a really short dude getting into a mosh, it won’t be a pretty sight.

I also noticed very similar elements to A Day To Remember’s music, which they had in the song called “In Between,” one of my favourites from their set as well as “Body Bag.” Needless to say, I was really impressed on how much the crowd was into singing the choruses and melody, which completely blew my mind.

Underoath

Sadly, this was one of  the worst and boring performances I have seen. All of Underoath's songs sounded the same, and did not have any core value, or remembrance of any kind whatsoever. Even though that I really liked how all the guys were on stage, I really just didn't like their music.

Bring Me The Horizon

After waiting, we were all finally here to see the main act: Bring Me The Horizon. Opening up the show with a sleek visual of shattered glass, the booming bass filled the room, you could feel it through your body.

The band kicked into “Happy Song,” which was surprisingly a lot better live than I expected it to be, hearing a bunch of screams from the crowd everyone started to sing, “S-P-I-R-I-T  SPIRIT, LET’S HEAR IT!”

The mosh and chaos ensued, and I have to say, this was one of the most intense moshes of my entire life. During the whole show, everyone was singing along with the chorus of every song; at every line, you could hear everyone over Oliver Sykes’ vocals. Though his vocals were fine in terms of levels, the magic came from the crowd that gave me chills down my spine.

Bring Me The Horizon has been around since 2004, with numerous changes in styles from the deathcore of their debut to more poppy sounding recent tracks. It really shows how much they've evolved over the years with the music in their catalogue. One of the newer releases being Sempiternal, which is their heaviest album and best album to date, prior to That's The Spirit, was showcased a lot during the concert.

There was also a nice visual in the background which went along with the music, and I thought that was a little nice touch; it added more to their set and what they had in their background. They also had a killer light show!

During “Chelsea's Smile,” there was about four to six circle pits happening around me, and a wall of death that was so huge we were pushed to the side almost near the wall!  I nearly almost died in the mosh pit because of how people were squeezing and shoving each other. It was so intense, I really needed a shower after the show and it was the best shower I have ever taken.

Highlight performances include “Shadow Moses” and its insane amount of crazy energy, as both the band and the crowd blew me out of the water completely, shouting “THIS IS SEMPITERNAL!” Another hit was  “Antivist,” for the overwhelming amount of things that were going on. I myself was so into it, I got into a place where I thought, “oh my god I am gonna die!” Luckily, I survived all that madness. Other favourite performances were “Avalanche,” “Drown,” “Doomed,” “Sleepwalking,” and “The House Of Wolves.”

Overall, the concert was amazing. I loved how much all the bands interacted a lot with the crowd and that had a TON of energy on stage, save for Underoath. If I were able to see the same tour again for another night, I totally would.

Album: Another Eternity

Artist: Purity Ring

Year: 2015

Label: Last Gang

Tested On: Grado Black – Realistic Lab 400 – Luxman R-1050 – Dynaco A-25

As soon as I heard Purity Ring’s song “Stillness in Woe” on CBC’s late night radio show The Signal, I put down my knitting and paid close attention to this captivating track. The Signal is billed as “your place for musical discovery” and in this case, for good reason. I was in the market for some new music at the time, and so I picked up a copy of Another Eternity. This is the second studio album by Edmonton’s Megan James and Corin Roddick, and is catchier and more straightforward than their first project, Shrines. Another Eternity is a punchy bit of synthetic dream pop.

The record comes packed in a heavy, bubblegum-pink gatefold and has a nice substantial feel to it. The colour of the sleeve is no accident: for the synaesthetically inclined, this is pink music, dig? A soft, holographic sparkle marks its sound. Purity Ring is more overpowering than Chvrches, and more cerebral than Grimes, but to compare the duo to either of these artists would not be too much of a stretch. If I had to find fault with this record, I would say that there’s too little thematic variation. It is cohesive to a fault, but this shortcoming is undone by numerous other redeeming factors. James’ lyrics, like those words you write down after a dream and are later unable to make sense of, have an immediate but intangible relevance. Her vocals, centralized and ethereal, merge with juicy electronic beats and sound a wee bit like candy—flavourful stuff.

Effects upon effects give an enjoyably processed art-pop colour to the album. Percussion jumps right through the speakers, and the MIDI synths are haunting and saturated. Though these sounds cannot have originated anywhere other than from a computer, they seem especially well suited to the vinyl medium. The magnetic warmth of analogue playback lends any recorded material an inviting, tactile character, and nowhere is this enhancement more difficult to ignore than with purely digital source material like this. This record is mastered to be loud and emphatic with a full-bodied low-end, and though I personally enjoy this trendy new approach, the old-school audiophile would not exactly be wrong to dismiss it as over-compressed. A touch more dynamic range would not have been unwelcome, but I’m being picky. All in all, this album sounds excellent, and I get a kick out of hearing such futuristic sounds on an LP. Check it out.

There's just something about Montreal duo Blood and Glass' music—something eclectic and entrancing, something that flawlessly brings together a wide variety of sounds into one song. That sound is omnipresent, now more than ever, in the group's brand new album Punk Shadows that drops today. After the group's appearance on The Pressure Drop last night at CJLO and prior to their release show tonight at the Café Cléopatra, I took the time to properly listen to the new album, and find out just why you should care about this wonderful record.

The thing that stands out the most from Punk Shadows is its amazing imagery. It goes beyond the lyrics—the complexity of the composing throughout each track, the unique touch given to each song, and how the tracks interact with each other is what makes it such an interesting record to just sit down and listen to. From the get-go, the opener "Block of Ice" takes us on a smooth journey, guitars and subtle drums growing insistent as the song progresses. It delves into intensity, slows down, picks up the beat again. It's a great introduction to the rest of the album, which experiments with various beats, distorted instrumentalization—that's done properly, mind you—and melodies that are interesting enough without getting redundant.

Highlights include "Nowheresville," another fairly representative track of both the group's versatily as well as the way they still manage to establish a sound that's typically theirs. "Hop the Fence" will definitely catch your attention, with the brass instruments leading the track and its more upbeat composition. Still, the song doesn't lose its slightly wondrous vibe—that's a good thing, and it's what makes every song on Punk Shadows part of a bigger, better, wonderful product.

It's not only the album that possesses that storytelling feeling—the performance matters too, and it differs from your typical concert. Blood and Glass wants you to do more than just hear their music, if you're lucky enough to see them live. "We're big into putting a show on," said Lisa Moore yesterday during The Pressure Drop's interview with the band. She mentioned how every element was part of a "mise-en-scène," from the music to the venue it's performed at. "Everything has to be part of the experience, the show experience," she added.

Curious about the experience, or want to hear a snippet of Punk Shadows? Don't miss Blood and Glass' release show tonight at 8 p.m., at the Café Cléopatra.