Wolf Parade should call it quits (and not just because the band's last album was a dud). But Spencer Krug should devote all his energy to Sunset Rubdown—everything this band (which includes members of Pony Up! and Miracle Fortress) does kicks ass. Especially Dragonslayer, its third full-length, which even surpasses the critically acclaimed Random Spirit […]
Dave Hayden
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Tara Jane O’Neil
The supremely talented musician and visual artist Tara Jane O’Neil has given us yet another stunning album. Ways Away (her eighth solo disc and a fitting successor to 2006’s In Circles) is built mostly on vamping motifs, echoing guitar phrases and faint percussive elements, with a languid tranquility that hovers over each of its songs. […]
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Around the Well
B-side and oddity collections are often full of bizarre outtakes suitable only for obsessed fans. But Sam Beam’s (AKA Iron and Wine) Around the Well defies the usual dictum, because his off-album contributions don’t steer far away from the softly sung, gently picked stylings of his own material. Especially lovely are his interpretations of other […]
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Green Day
After the success of American Idiot, who can blame Green Day, once the little punk band that could, for envisioning grander schemes and wanting to create another punk opera? But 21st Century Breakdown is no American Idiot; suffering most notably is the relative dearth of solid musical ideas. Sure, there are great songs here (“Know […]
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Pink Mountaintops
Compared to the heavy hash-oil sludge of Stephen McBean’s other band (Black Mountain), Pink Mountaintops make trippy music that contains more flower power and LSD. Outside Love is more diverse than its predecessor—stretching beyond guitar and drum riffs to include strings and things brimming with a Jesus and Mary Chain wall of sound. This duality […]
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Sonic Youth’s
Over the band’s 28-year career, Sonic Youth has recorded several landmark albums, a few of which (Sister, Dirty and Daydream Nation, perhaps the band’s most groundbreaking and influential masterpiece) continue to be regarded as yardsticks for anything they subsequently offer. You can now add The Eternal, their 16th, as another one of those recordings. From […]
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Thermals a little easier to digest
The Thermals have never been shy of speaking the truth as they see it. Their last album, a scathing critique of America under a right-wing theocracy, was momentous in both its intellectualism and power-punk execution. Now We Can See is equally ambitious, but easier to digest because the story foresees hope instead of despair. The […]
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Patrick Watson
Two years ago Patrick Watson won the Polaris, beating heavily favoured Arcade Fire and Chad Van Gaalen with a solid collection of indie-folk songs, but it wasn’t the “instant classic” that the Polaris jury thought it to be. Wooden Arms is a completely different beast. Impressively daring, it takes risks and pushes boundaries—songs unfurl slowly […]
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Obits
Anyone familiar with the Fugazi-on-acid mayhem of Drive Like Jehu and the Hot Snakes will love this new Rick Froberg project. While the absence of Rocket from the Crypt’s John Reis is noticeable, it doesn’t leave Obits lacking in energy or vigour. This is as much an rockabilly-infused adrenaline rush as any Hot Snakes outing […]
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Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird is one serious songwriter, and not because his lyrics deal with weighty subjects (frankly, they are sometimes difficult to decipher). Serious because every arrangement and word is so carefully considered within the context of other parts, it forces listeners to pay careful attention or risk missing subtle details. Like how the phrase “I […]
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Julie Doiron
There is no doubt that Julie Doiron is a happy woman now. She not only says so immediately, on the leadoff track, “Life of Dreams,” from I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day, but also closes the album with a similarly joyous “Glad to Be Alive.” Honestly, it is such a relief to […]
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Bibio
If you consider other electro-folk bands like Caribou or Looper, live instruments (drums, acoustic guitars) might give the music a more organic feel, but the balance teeters heavily toward electronica. With Bibio (AKA Stephen Wilkinson, a British sound-art student and music producer), the opposite is true. Pure digital sounds are mostly absent. Instead it’s the […]