Ryan McNutt

Award-winning Canadian hardcore band makes a rock opera about young love, a lightbulb factory and British political angst, full of rhyming couplets that would make even Shakespeare blush. On paper, David Comes to Life sounds ridiculous. On the record, it’s…well…still ridiculous, but also captivating, impassioned and, at its best, exhilarating. Frontman Damian Abraham’s growl remains […]

Thanks to its (very stupid) title and booklet art—poop Jesus, get it?—this latest album from Vancouver punks Living With Lions managed to raise the ire of James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage. In response, the band volunteered to recall the album so it can be reissued sans government logos, also returning $13,000 in FACTOR funding. […]

Sometimes, it seems as if the state of sound in 2011 is stronger than the state of song. Case in point: The Golden Record, the first release from Iowa-born, Montreal-based songwriter Little Scream (Laurel Sprengelmeyer). Layered and intricate, the album—featuring Arcade Fire’s Richard Perry as co-producer—oscillates between dense anthems and sparse, breakable ballads. It’s likely […]

Hugs are awesome. I appreciate that some people just aren’t into them, but to me they’re a triumph of human social evolution—flexible in application, intimate without crossing boundaries, a welcome reminder of the physicality that connects us as humans. Temporary Resident, the debut from Winnipeg duo Imaginary Cities, isn’t so dissimilar in its triumphs. Sometimes […]

Who is Young Galaxy, exactly? Just when you had the band pegged as an Arts and Crafts brand extension—a minor-league Stars or Broken Social Scene—it hooks up with Swedish dance producer Dan Lissvik, break out the drum machines and keyboards and drop Shapeshifting on Paper Bag Records. I’m tempted to consider the shift a cynical […]

REM haven’t made a truly essential album since drummer Bill Berry’s departure 14 years ago, but 2008’s Accelerate came close; in its righteous fuzz, the band sounded inspired for the first time in a long time. Collapse Into Now is even better, but in a very different way. Charmingly scattered, the album plays like a […]

When we spend our days surrounded by immediate sensations, sometimes you have to fight for the slower glories. The Olympic Symphonium don’t make immediate folk music: their jangly arpeggios, wistful harmonies and brooding strings make a quick impression, sure, but it’s an impression of mood more than anything, and it’s on repeated listens that The […]

The Decemberists’ sixth album, The King is Dead, almost feels like a challenge to the band’s detractors: “Alright, haters, how about we make an album that jettisons nearly all the things that you find annoying about us? No concept album conceits, no sea shantys…what will you do then?” Even as someone who kinda dug the […]