Doug Taylor

Emerging from a spell in Ontario’s Cuff the Duke, Dale Murray is back east enriching the scene here. Much as his sparkling solo debut, Brighter Lives, Darker Side in 2005 marked life after The Guthries, Dream Mountain Dream may offer surprises to those who know Murray from his bands. Pedal steel, his chief asset to […]

Beyond the cooking soundtracks, the bands that never quite died (The Inbreds, The Lodge) and attention to detail, Mike O’Neill builds anticipation for recordings that manage to stand apart from trends of the day. Wild Lines answers the bell, pushing robust guitar and baroque trimmings, often as a tandem. A hard-drive beginning in “Wasted Time” […]

Hank Jones played piano for Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and nearly everyone else before passing away two years ago at age 91. One of his last acts was recording religious tunes with standup bassist Charlie Haden. Childhood memories arrive in interwoven reverence with a jazz accent. It’s a master class in how certain century-old black […]

Longer than an EP, shorter than most albums, Soho Ghetto’s collection marks the arrival of a distinct, fluid new seven-piece. Matthew Gibbon’s crisp harmonica and Shawn Burke’s double-pump drumming are as much a signature as Marc-Antoine Robertson’s plaintive vocals.Then, on “Heart, Beat, Skip,” Rachel Sunter’s piano drenches in colour a youthful fret about missed opportunities […]

The Halifax indie scene would be missing a few beats over the last 20 years if not for Benn Ross, a veritable Zelig of the skins. Every few years, he’ll call in some favours and set loose his own muse. With its refrain”Come out from the shadows now,” “Hiding Heart” describes shyness and the struggle […]

The Unthanks sisters perform this tribute in a semi-classical setting at Union Chapel in London, England. Their disarming humour saves proceedings from becoming overly reverent. The six songs of Antony Hegarty are pretty but slight, leaving a notion that it’s an alien androgynous voice driving his appeal. The Robert Wyatt segment is another matter. Nine […]

Immaculate Machine may be done and New Pornographers are taking a break. The good news is keyboardist/singer Kathryn Calder has blossomed with two albums in just over a year. Any observant listener cannot be surprised that the Victoria-based performer has got it going on. Particularly fond of ’80s synthesizers and the echo chamber, she still […]

Recorded in six locales, Under Your Shadow may be the definitive Al Tuck album. A dose of his impish humour lies in “Hello, Prince Edward Island,” though it requires a G-man’s diligence to make out some of the lyrics from the rollicking Summerside show. The title song and “Ducktown” offer a taste of the impeccably […]

From the high-tone cover art to Colin Linden producing in Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, NY, Coal Mining Blues looks to be Andersen’s move uptown. Loyal fans of the king-size New Brunswick blues belter may miss the rough edges. With four original and two cover ballads included, Andersen is challenging himself and the listener. Since […]