For their seventh full-length release, rock band Kings of Leon brings forward an interesting album that incorporates both their signature alternative sound and a certain refreshing indie-pop touch. WALLS, an acronym for “We Are Like Love Songs,” is a lot like your typical Kings of Leon album. You’ll find many rock tunes that flow well together, with prominent guitars and a catchy beat, but this time, you’ll also hear many songs that have more of an ambient, intricate sound. “Muchacho” is a perfect example of that—the ballad is slow and possesses an arrangement that is not often heard from Kings of Leon, and yet it works incredibly well for them. Although I would have liked to hear more of these new, versatile tracks, WALLS remains a good piece of music overall, and will leave you curious about what more can come out of this band’s music.
Green Day – Revolution Radio (Reprise Records, 2016)
Green Day’s twelfth highly-anticipated studio album, Revolution Radio, sounds a lot like a sequel to 21st Century Breakdown (2009). It’s as though the experimental touch we heard in the band’s ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré! trilogy (2012) has been abandoned in favour of a return to Green Day’s typical, personalized pop-punk genre. You’ll hear the kind of songs that made both 21st Century Breakdown and American Idiot (2004) the successful albums they became: political themes that call for change or songs about personal experiences, matched with quick-paced beats and carefully executed guitar riffs. However, it isn’t a rock opera—just a bunch of songs that sound good together. As a fan, it’s nice to hear the band go back to that simplicity—maybe it doesn’t have the raw, dirty sound of Dookie (1994) or Insomniac (1995) that so many miss and crave, but Revolution Radio managed to remind the audience of the band’s roots, without sounding worn out. The record still brings novelty to Green Day’s repertoire, something fans have been waiting for since 2012.
More than just a war, the Syrian Eyes of the World exhibition takes a look at the people who are affected
The Syrian Eyes of the World exhibition, featuring portraits of Syrians accompanied by a caption that shares the image’s story, opened on Sept. 20 at the Bibliothèque du Boisé. Its goal is to shed light on the Syrian people and their diaspora, from a perspective unique from that of the Western media which focuses primarily on the ongoing conflict in the country.
It is a worldwide project involving Syrian photographers from around the world, including Canada, Syria, parts of Europe and in the Middle East. The project was launched in partnership with La Maison de la Syrie, a non-governmental organization promoting Syrian culture in Quebec.
“The project came from the urge of saying something about Syria and Syrians other than the war,” said visual artist and Concordia alumna, Madonna Adib, who is one of twelve photographers involved in the project. “For the past five, six years, we only hear about the war in Syria, but we never hear about the human side,” she said. The exhibition does not speak of war, of chemical weapons or the number of casualties—it speaks of individuals, their stories and what they have to say to the world.
“We asked people questions, apart from politics or religion, as this is the main thing that people are fighting about in Syria,” said Adib. “[The subjects] just talked about themselves, their stories, about anything they would like to share with the world. Anyway, people don’t talk about politics or religion, because they’re just fed up with that.”
According to Adib, some people were wary about taking part in the project—for fear of taking a side in the ongoing conflict. “It was an essential point for this project to be neutral, and it doesn’t take any side in anything. It’s just a space to talk about yourself, and to tell the world things that the news doesn’t,” she said. “Basically, we just want to show the individual side of Syrians, to let them express themselves as individuals—not groups of people who are getting bombed, or risk getting bombed or dying.”
A native of Damascus, Syria, Adib also has a personal take on the project. She said photographing her mother particularly moved her. “I really loved what she said. It really touches me, because I know how their life was in Syria before the war and the change that happened after the war,” she said. “I asked her, ‘What would you like to say to life?’ She answered, ‘You did us wrong.’”
This is a portrait that Syrian photographer Madonna Adib took of her mother. The exhibition tries to shed light on Syrians from a perspective other than war and conflict. Photo by Madonna Adib
The power of the subjects’ words, paired with their black and white portraits, constitute the greatest quality of the exhibition. Each picture tells a different tale about a different person, even though they all relate to the same topic: migration. “There’s no one that can connect to migration unless they’ve lived it. You try to connect, you try to feel the other’s feelings, but it never works,” said Adib. “At least, through this project, we’re trying to put a spotlight on something that people in Western countries don’t know about, which is good for them.”
“Everyone is special,” Adib said, when asked which of her subjects stood out the most. “When you start making conversation with a person, you hear their story. It becomes special because every story is unique, everyone has their own story, and you connect with those stories in a different way.”
Syrian Eyes of the World is an ever-growing project, and has major plans for expansion. “We’re now working on a documentary with Parabola Films [based] in Montreal, in which we’re following six characters in their daily life,” Adib said. “I don’t think it’s going to be done before three years, or four years, maybe, but we’re working hard on it.”
The exhibition is open until Oct. 14 at the Bibliothèque du Boisé, as well as the Bibliothèque du Vieux-Saint-Laurent. Admission is free. Afterwards, the exhibition will be touring seven libraries within the city of Montreal, until summer 2017.
A new grocery store in Villeray offers an environmentally-conscious shopping experience
Somewhere on Jarry street, in a small shop littered with bulk food containers and glass pots, customers are going about their grocery shopping in a peculiar way.
LOCO is not your typical grocery store—here, one of the main priorities is being environmentally-conscious.
LOCO is an innovative, zero-waste grocery store that opened on Aug. 9. The store, located in the Villeray neighbourhood, offers its customers products that are as environmentally friendly as possible. The store’s products are sold in bulk, free of any sort of packaging, and most of them are organic and supplied by local producers.
The concept is simple: customers come in with their own glass containers and tote bags, or buy ones at the store. While the option for buying cloth tote bags is there, most customers bring their own. After weighing their empty pots, they can fill them with any desired good in the store. At the register, the products are weighed, and the price is calculated per mass unit. No plastic bags, no unnecessary packaging.
Behind the brand are four women: Andréanne Laurin, Martine Gariépy, Marie-Soleil L’Allier and Sophie Maccario. The women all studied environmental sciences. “We learned about monocultures, pesticides and their impact on agriculture. [We realized that] it’s important to be careful with that.”
According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, for instance, emits nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that retains heat in the atmosphere about 300 times more than carbon dioxide. Chemical farming also uses up much more energy than organic farming, which relies on natural fertilizers such as compost.
The food’s production isn’t the only part of the process that affects the environment. Food transport also comes into play when considering the environmental impacts of the food industry. Transport requires gas, which results in more greenhouse gases emissions. The further food travels, the greater amount of greenhouse gases is released in the atmosphere, and the more damageable it is to the environment, according to the David Suzuki Foundation. Therefore, local farming is also a practice to be encouraged.
The new store is tucked away on Jarry street, in the Villeray neighbourhood Photo by Sarah Boumedda.
“We wanted a place to buy our food that would be eco-friendly,” Laurin explained. “The main thing that [people] buy is food, so we thought it was the best way to improve our lifestyle, as food is the one thing people will have to buy no matter what, on a regular basis.”
LOCO’s products range from a wide variety of cereals, beans, and other dry foods, to fresh fruits and vegetables of the season, to local dairy products, various meat and fish, and baked goods.
However, LOCO offers more than just food. The grocery store’s inventory also includes daily-life essentials, such as cleaning products, soaps, and even toothpaste. Most of these goods are handmade from natural ingredients.
“Our products are mostly organic, or come from various small producers from Quebec, who don’t use pesticides or GMOs [genetically modified organisms],” said Laurin. “LOCO is a place where you can find all of these products in one place, instead of having to pass by three stores to get your usual groceries.”
The zero-waste, eco-friendly concept of LOCO, with its no-packaging policy, is a brand new concept in Quebec but is a practice that is already popular in Europe. “There’s a similar store in France, called Day by Day,” said Laurin. Day by Day is a French chain of grocery stores offering bulk goods, just like LOCO. Its first branch opened in 2013.
However, according to Laurin, the zero-waste initiative presumably originates from Bea Johnson, a French-born American grand prize winner of the Green Awards in 2011. Author of the bestseller book, Zero Waste Home, she adopted the zero-waste lifestyle in 2008, and now holds talks and conferences on the topic and writes about her experiences on her blog. “[Johnson] is really involved in the zero-waste community,” said Laurin. “We know more about the zero-waste [movement] because of her.”
LOCO has been in the works for about a year and a half, said Laurin. “We only opened last month, so that’s why we’re really busy at the moment,” she added, gesturing behind her towards the hustle and bustle of employees and customers around the store.
“It’s been really nice,” said Laurin about the team’s experience since the store’s opening. “It’s really fun to see customers, talk with them and ask them what they want, too. We try to adjust our products, depending on what people want.”
Laurin assured that everyone is welcome at LOCO, and that the team would gladly talk anyone through the basics of the store. “Maybe one day we could have a small store around Concordia’s campus,” Laurin said with a smile.
