Tara Thorne

The Heavy BlinkersThe Night and I Are Still So Young (Endearing)The long-awaited, long-delayed follow-up to the Blinkers’ brilliant Better Weather (2001!) is 40 minutes of the most romantic melancholia you’ve ever heard. Cohesive but not repetitive, grandiose without preten- sion, The Night and I is music no one’s made for decades. It maintains the ’60s […]

Pony UpMake Love to the Judges with your Eyes(Dim Mak)The Montreal indie-pop quartet makes a stunning turnaround on its full-length debut, a marked change in direction and maturity from its lo-fi self-titled EP. One of the most anticipated shows of the Halifax Pop Explosion fulfilled its destiny despite sexist wankery from jealous dudes in the […]

WintersleepWelcome to the Night SkyLabworkThrow away the misleading stompalong of “Weighty Ghost” and you have nine of the most epic, evocative songs ever produced in this town. Tim D’Eon comes roaring to the front, layering intricate, beautiful guitar lines deep into “Drunk on Aluminum” and “Miasmal Smoke & The Yellow Bellied Freaks,” while Paul Murphy […]

Tori AmosAmerican Doll Posse(Epic)Tori Amos had too many songs, too many styles, too much to say for her ninth record, and only two options: either leave some of the material behind for later, or find a way to include it all. Enter Pip, Santa, Isabel and Clyde, alteregos Amos uses as a way to break […]

Rilo KileyMore Advent-urous(Brute/Beaute)Just try and pick out the best moment on this LA pop quartet’s third long-player. There’s the “shoo-bop shoo-bop my baby” on “It’s A Hit.” There’s the whole of the heartbreaking “Does He Love You?” There’s Jenny Lewis’s on-beat panting on the sex jam “Portions of Foxes.” (We’re only three songs in.) Maybe […]

Some GirlsCrushing Love (Koch)After Juliana Hatfield released the grimy, purposefully uncatchy Made in China last year, Crushing Love, the second effort from her indie-pop trio Some Girls, feels like a fall breeze in muggy August. She’s still dating drug addicts—guess what the gorgeous, atmospheric ballad “He’s On Drugs Again” is about?—and taking no shit, slapping […]

The WeakerthansReunion Tour Anti-Four damn years after Reconstruction Site, Winnipeg’s favourite sons return with their most robust effort since Fallow. Thank returning producer Ian Blurton for the crunch but credit Canada’s best lyricist, John K. Samson, for the spellbinding story-songs that have made this band so beloved. (Shove off, Hip!) In them Samson reveals tiny […]

Nada SurfThe Weight is a GiftBarsukFew bands have rebounded from one-hit-wonder novelty status the way the intelligent pop trio Nada Surf has. And “Popular,” the anti-high school speak-sing jam that was a hit in 1999 — you totally know it: “I’m head of the class/(I’m popular)/ I’m a quarterback/(I’m popular)” — was off their fourth […]

Sondre LercheTwo Way Monologue(Virgin)The Norwegian wunderkind has much to live up to on his second full-length—like Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, he’s been saddled with saving his generation. Good luck. Kids are much more content crying along to Oberst’s wordy, folky heartbreakers than Lerche’s pop poems. Lerche—a Heavy Blinkers fan—is rooted in the kind of sound […]

Regina SpektorBegin to Hope(Sire)Fuck anti-folk—Spektor is a pop superstar with the best wit and piano chops this side of Ben Folds. As “Fidelity” works its way into ubiquity scoring film trailers and Grey’s Anatomy previews, Spektor’s surprise dark side is waiting for you on “That Time” and the multi-language “Apres Moi.” Endlessly listenable.Tara Thornecategories: Best […]