Doug Taylor

Straight-up Celtic music has few sturdier proponents than these two. Mary Jane is best known as Ashley MacIsaac’s Gaelic singer and Wendy as fiddler in the band Beolach. A contemporary touch like half-funky bassline might cameo, but this sumptuous recording may confirm the word that Cape Breton music is more Scottish these days than the […]

Nova Scotia’s astounding crop of female singer-songwriters keeps on giving. Jennah Barry arrives with a lively collection of songs recorded at the Old Confidence Lodge in Riverport. It sounds like the room is full of players, though not so dense that timely “wooo-oo-ooh”s by Barry won’t considerably sweeten a tune. Icy of heart, “they fight […]

Following one of the most rousing debuts by anybody anywhere, Vanguard of the Young and Reckless, Nova Scotia’s Stanfields keep their foot on the gas with the new album Death and Taxes. Producer Mike Fraser (Bryan Adams, AC/DC), with his smooth Vancouver layers, manages to let Scottish lilt and Ramonesian drive burn through. Along with […]

When supported by the Danish National Orchestra, the strange beauty in Antony Hegarty’s voice becomes more beguiling than bizarre. It’s a wind instrument somewhere between oboe and clarinet more than one caught between genders, though it’s that too. Most of these songs appear on earlier releases with somewhat less dynamic backing. One hurdle is “Future […]

For some, the rap on Patti Smith has been that she avoids singing melodically to remind people she’s a poet. The surprise on Banga is how well she combines singing and reciting and how snappy the pop element is. Old CBGB’s colleague Tom Verlaine (Television) pitches in with loyal Lenny Kaye to weave guitar magic […]

If your head bangs more than your toe taps—that’s a high noise to melody factor. If the ratio’s just under infinity, does that make it math rock? This Halifax trio is well set to spread its reach, the second album landing on a national label. Tim Wheeler of Ash adds his endorsement in the form […]

Much as the blues were embraced by white boys 50 years ago, ponderous lyrics over ethereal keyboard sounds are no longer the province solely of British depressives with peculiar hair. On its fourth album, this Baltimore duo is nearly indistinguishable from Cocteau Twins and the like. Their achievement is to inject new life into what had […]

One of the most unique artists in Canada appears to be branching out, each move characteristically distinct. Now based in BC, Petunia was once easily identified as the the best damn yodeler since Slim Whitman. With the Vipers, he’s got rockabilly in range and can still summon a time before you were born with a […]

Mike Diablo of the Urban Surf Kings must be both organized and nimble-fingered. Longhorn is named for the bass he played to back the tracks made in a one-day session with drummer Frank den Haan, a dozen mostly original instrumentals. You’ve got one guitar instead of the Kings’ usual two with hints of metal and […]

Not only does cassette tape live, it has artistic cachet. At least it does for French actress/writer Laurence Strelka and Haligonian globetrotter Denma Peisinger. Their collaboration was “recorded spontaneously” and they kept mostly first takes. What lifts it above the average art school sound project is Strelka’s Parisian accent, which makes everything sexy, even hell. […]

Yarmouth lost its ferry, but holds onto the will to rock. Named oddly for a theory of political options, the title tune navigates some tricky tempo changes beneath a chorus of “the body of Christ won’t save your soul.” It is catchy enough to dissuade the religious chant (or is it denial?) from slowing your […]

Crunchy and propulsive, The Space Age squeezes a lot of rock into the available space. Guitar man/singer Andy Patil backed Matt Mays in El Torpedo and Greg Fry is best known as the Heavy Blinkers’ drummer. There may be riffs you’ve heard before but never in this order, making the songs freshly familiar. There is […]