Dave Hayden

Susie Arioli BandThat’s For Me(Justin Time)She may have dropped the Swing from the band’s name, but there’s no indication Susie Arioli is planning on doing anything differently. Ms. Arioli and her main accomplice, the superb guitarist Jordan Officer, continue to perfect their sophisticated and polite delivery of old school small-troupe swing. While sometimes the music […]

Eric BachmannTo the Races(Saddle Creek)This is Eric Bachmann’s best disc ever. That may seem like a far-reaching statement given his track record—a series of stellar, lo-fi indie rock albums as Archers of Loaf followed by an equally prolific output as Crooked Fingers—but this latest is something else. It oozes soul from every nook and cranny […]

Rick WhiteMemoreaperBlue FogTwo thousand and seven was a great year for Rick White. He recorded and played on Julie Doiron’s phenomenal Woke Myself Up. And there was the critically successful Eric’s Trip reunion tour. But in between all that was this magnificent (almost forgotten) record: a psych-rock tour-de-force that showcases White’s ever-expanding mastery of the […]

GhoststoryBefore the Nights Around Me(Sonic Unyon)Toronto art-country outfit Ghoststory is an indie super-group if there ever was one, featuring members of Hacksaw, Deadly Snakes, Fembots, The Weakerthans and Buck 65’s backing band. And with that kind of cred, it’s no wonder this album kicks ass. Well, perhaps “kickass” isn’t exactly the right term for an […]

Sonic YouthSonic Nurse(Geffen)New York’s favourite noise-makers return to a sonic palette that has already yielded two superb albums, New York Ghosts and Flowers and Murray Street. So why does Sonic Nurse feel lacking? Sure, it’s very good and there are many blissful moments—Thurston’s groovy “New Hampshire” and Lee Renaldo’s “Paper Cup Exit”—but Sonic Nurse feels […]

Chad Van GaalenSkelliconnection (Sub Pop)Calgary’s CVG has quickly become one of Canada’s most treasured musical secrets. And for this sophomore offering he digs even deeper into his bizarre fantasy world—albeit with a measure of optimism and a wider sonic palette—for an album that is a playfully idiosyncratic mixture of catchy indie-pop, traveling blues, ’80s electro-pop […]

Diana KrallChristmas Songs(Verve)All jazz musicians take their turn at Christmas standards. Some just toss them off. But the greats treat the material no differently than any jazz or American songbook standard, making it a showcase for their talent. Diana Krall has recorded a few seasonal numbers over the years , but this is her first […]

Josh RitterHello Starling (Signature)When Josh Ritter pulls into town in September with Sarah Harmer, it will be a welcome introduction to a man who just beat out Justin Timberlake as Ireland’s favourite international musician. And he doesn’t even play Celtic music. Instead, he performs folky singer-songwriter music that is as honest, innocent and pastoral as […]

Andre Ethier, with Chris-topher Sandes feat. Pick-les & Price(Sonic Unyon)If you can picture the cover of Bob Dylan’s The Basement Tapes (an unsubtle take on the cover of Thelonious Monk’s Under-ground) you’ll get a good idea of what to expect from Andre Ethier’s (Deadly Snakes) first solo disc. It is roughly hewn, ragged and full […]

Belle & SebastianThe Life Pursuit(Matador)Since its debut, Tiger Milk, launched in 1996, Scottish darlings Belle & Sebastian have had unwavering critical acclaim that has paralleled its rise to cult superhero status. And B&S influences abound — be they directly in other artists’ work (Swedish crooner Jens Lekman, for one, sound like he pines for Scotland) […]