Aloe Blacc, Good Things (Stones Throw) Apollo Ghosts, Mount Benson (independent) It’s criminal to have so many equally passionate and comical pop songs squeezed into 25 minutes, so I plug in my air guitar and press repeat. –RH Arcade Fire, The Suburbs (Merge) Mature and grown-up without losing their trademark energy, Arcade Fire take on […]
Ryan Hemsworth
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Jenocide’s in knee deep
A great year calls for another great show in Halifax. Jen Clarke, AKA Jenocide, will be letting loose Monday night for her first performance at Menz Bar. “This year has definitely been all about keeping it hater-free and surrounding myself with positive people like Willow Bell, who co-produced my EP,” says Clarke. Knee Deep defines […]
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Jenocide
Ms. Clarke packs all the sass she can into her stilettos for Knee Deep and hits the town, stomping on any old Peaches comparisons and ties to that Maritime sound. From beginning to end, the EP is soaked with synths brighter than MJ’s socks on Off the Wall, and moaning melodies that might make you […]
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Waka Flocka Flame
The Don Killuminati this is not. This is the kind of music that’s going to make you hide in an alleyway as the car playing it drives by. One of the biggest questions raised after hearing a couple gun onomatopoeias is whether Flocka’s empowering the ignorant or relieving people under a lot of stress. The […]
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OWL
Chants is like a pocket full of favourite childhood candy. One half of The Superfantastics, Matt MacDonald, brings another dose of power pop, this time through the voice of Vanessa Murnaghan. Short and sweet like Pixy Stix, “Goodbye Bye” is bittersweet like Sour Cherry Blasters, “Airport” is a great standby with a surprise inside like […]
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Drake
Drake breeds hate. It’s been a journey for Thank Me Later, after a year of squashing the charts and outrunning everyone from hood chicks to your girlfriend. But what’s the word? He’s “not real.” Well, let’s get real, kids. Jay-Z wears Aldo scarves, Rick Ross was a cop and Biggie had a Super Nintendo when […]
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Dance with Junior Boys
Who ever thought sine waves could sound so sexy? Hamilton’s electronic duo Junior Boys have been touring, getting 9.0 reviews on Pitchfork and spitting out golden albums for years, and now they’re getting it on at the Paragon. Saturday night the Boys are playing as celebrity DJs, rather than as a band, but either way […]
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Apollo Ghosts
An entire album with replay value was beginning to feel like a strange memory from childhood, until I put on Mount Benson. Opening track “Wakesiah” packs a punch of nostalgia that could compete with any of your old Nintendo cartridges. The whole album comes and goes within 25 minutes, as if Jay Reatard possessed the […]
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JJ
In 2009, jj’s debut album jj no. 2 sent the unknown duo spiraling through the blogosphere. It was their meditated, flawlessly flawed sound and their ability to turn Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” into ear butter (“Ecstasy”) that caused Pitchfork and Gorilla vs. Bear to collectively wet themselves. The duo has embraced an entirely more hushed and […]
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Falling for The Balconies
When I was young, my mom always tried pushing me into music lessons. I’m guessing the mothers of Liam Jaeger and siblings Jacquie and Steve Neville of The Balconies did too—with great success. “We were all studying at University of Ottawa in the classical music program,” says Jaeger, calling from Kingston, ON. There, the band’s […]
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The Carter
Director Adam Bhala Lough lets Lil Wayne’s music speak in this one. It should always be that way in music docs, but Lough does it because he has to (Wayne refused to answer Lough’s questions and eventually dropped his support for the film and tried to sue the producers). The Carter is an affirmation of […]
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>Shoplifting From American Apparel, Tao Lin (Melville House)
I saw a poster once that said “Modern art = I could do that + Yeah, but you didn’t.” Tao Lin’s novella might make you think, “I could write this,” but Lin did, and he managed to write it without poisoning the content with pretentiousness. It’s not a guide for petty thievery, but a scrapbook […]