Montréal's 10th annual ComicCon ended on Sunday after a three-day celebration of geek culture. This being my first Comic-Con, I wasn't really sure of what to expect, but I was still pleasantly surprised. I attended a variety of events, but I'm going to talk about the two I enjoyed the most: BattleCOM and the DreakHacks Gaming Zone.

I first heard about Denmark’s Iceage in an Iggy Pop interview with Australia’s Triple J in 2013. They had just released their critically acclaimed sophomore album You’re Nothing, and Iggy was praising them on their ability to “express negative energy.” This led me to downloading the album immediately, and I’ve been a fan since. With Plowing Into the Field of Love, their 2014 album, they displayed their growth in both musicality and lyricism. Their latest effort, Beyondless, supports Iggy Pop’s claim. It demonstrates further growth and maturity and proves that Iceage is a band with something to say, and that they are here to stay.

Growing up, on Sunday car trips from Ottawa to Montreal to visit family, we would put on CBC and listen an iconic voice narrate the lives of a family and their every-day adventures together. This family was a part of my childhood, and it wasn’t until I was embarrassingly old that I learned that they were fictional and that the stories were all written by the creative genius with the distinguished voice.

In February of 2017, this beloved radio host lost his battle with cancer and I, along with countless other Canadians, was heartbroken. It wasn’t just the comfortingly familiar voice that we lost, but also the family that he brought to life. 

When trying to get a record label off the ground, patience really is a virtue.

That’s the belief at least of Julien Manaud, co-founder of local independent label Lisbon Lux Records, which has made a name for itself in Montreal for the past five years, serving up some of the best in electronic pop in both of Canada’s official languages.

Patience is such a hallmark for Manaud that albums delivered by the label’s artists require months of preparation for choreographing their launch to ensure maximum exposure. Quite a few album release dates have been pushed back to achieve this goal.