Oct 07, 2010 TV Web Exclusive

Bruce Springsteen's 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town didn't put him on the covers of Time and Newsweek; 1975's Born to Run did. Darkness didn't give him his first Top 10 single; 1980's The River did with "Hungry Heart." Darkness didn't inspire a tribute album, as 1982's Nebraska did. And these days, indie artists are more apt to cover songs from Springsteen's 1984 blockbuster Born in the U.S.A. than anything from Darkness. So why is an hour-and-a-half documentary on the making of Darkness on the Edge of Town premiering on HBO tonight? More

Oct 07, 2010 Music Web Exclusive

After recording 2007's In Light with only vintage analog synthesizers, Arp's Alexis Georgopoulos went back to the electronic drawing board and rethought his purity of approach. More

Oct 07, 2010 Comic Books Web Exclusive

The second volume of The Unwritten takes up where the first left off, an adventure wherein Christopher Robin-Harry Potter pastiche Tom Taylor is caught up in a conspiracy involving his father, an ultra-famous author who's gone missing, and the very real magic of fiction. More

Oct 06, 2010 Live Web Exclusive

The show clocked in a scant 45 minutes, but anyone present at Neon Indian’s Henry Fonda gig on Friday night would be the first to admit that the band had rightfully chosen quality over quantity. More

Oct 05, 2010 Music Web Exclusive

The third album by this Texas metal quartet is a sci-fi concept album. If you can get past the thematic silliness, the album is a hell of a trip. If not, you'll be better off waiting for The Sword's next album. More

Oct 04, 2010 Music Web Exclusive

When one thinks of obscure '60s psych rock, one seldom thinks of Illinois. But Spur was the Midwestern gem that could stand toe-to-toe with the greats of the era, mixing psychedelia, pop, countrified jangle, and straight up rock and roll. More

Oct 03, 2010 Live

Divan Orange is the site of Pop Montreal’s afternoon shows, but in my now-daily three-step process (recover, report, refuel), I missed No Joy, aka Laura Lloyd and Jasamine White-Gluz. Formerly of Bad Flirt (White-Gluz’s longtime labour of love, which expanded from a solo project to a rock quintet that released a pretty hot LP in ’08), the ladies have whole-heartedly joined the shoegazing revival, submerging their pop tunes and black-angel vocals in dense, creaky noise. More

Oct 01, 2010 Live Web Exclusive

Like clockwork. With Pop Montreal comes the first of the season’s crap weather, and so the festival’s first full-on day was marred by a massive downpour. I was as happy as the expanding hole in my ceiling as I left the (relative) shelter of home to hit the Pop BBQ, which wasn’t much of a BBQ, having moved from the terrace of Pop’s HQ, Notman House, to Barfly, one of St. Laurent Blvd.’s tiniest, grubbiest dives. Barfly is ace, of course, but would I want to eat there? More

Oct 01, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

There’s an almost overwhelming inclination to pit one’s appreciation for this remake against the merits of the original Swedish film, Let the Right One In, but the truth is that the two films are so similar that any comparison will simply boil down to a matter of preference. More