The Minus 5 The Gun Album (Yep Roc)The Minus 5 is not really a band, per se. It is the brainchild of Fresh Young Fellows’ Scott McCaughey and usually features such luminaries as Jeff Tweedy (with and without Wilco), Peter Buck (with and without Mike Mills), Jon Auer of The Posies, Ken Stringfellow and scores […]
Trevor MacLaren
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She Wants Revenge
She Wants RevengeShe Wants Revenge(Geffen)She Wants Revenge is more music to file under the current post-punk revival. SWR takes on early New Order, Closer-era Joy Division and Depeche Mode while mixing in goth-driven misery. End-to-end the record is monotonous, but the music is both well-written and executed. The vibe is boorish and seems like a […]
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Kate Bush
Published December 08, 2005. Kate Bush Aerial (SonyBMG) It has been such a long wait, but Bush returns with a gloriously textured art-rock tour de force that recalls everything before The Sensual World. This is a double disc set of straightforward Bush, rather than another devoted to an entire suite. Majestic and surreal. Trevor MacLaren […]
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Brendan Benson
Brendan BensonThe Alternative to Love(v2)Brendan Benson’s debut One Mississippi was one of the greatest records of the ’90s. Yet on record number three he is still an underground cult figure. The Alternative to Love’s blissfully raunchy pop will hopefully change this. The disc is a no-holds-barred rip through the foundation of power-pop. Taking bits directly […]
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David Bowie
Published September 18, 2003. David Bowie Reality (ISO) Reality finds Bowie in the comfort zone of recalling his past. He works his way through his old catalogue with vigour, taking chunks from here and there. Heathen was Bowie’s best work in 20 years, while Hours was little gems buried in mediocrity. Reality suffers from that […]
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Plastic Japanese Toys
Plastic Japanese ToysGlitterati(Moonbabe Records)Plastic Japanese Toys have to come to show that Montreal has its own share of hideous bands. Taking on the cheesy and downright vulgar aspects of new-wave power-pop of the early ’80s, PJT is mind-bogglingly inane. Opener “Intro” features screams that seem to be sampled from a porno and right then the […]
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Luther Wright and the Wrongs
Luther Wright and the WrongsInstrumentality(Snakeye)Instrumentality harks back to the days when country backing groups (Buck Owens’s Buckeroos or Merle Haggard’s Strangers) would release instrumental albums without their respective leaders to show the talents of the musicians. Using a similar mode, this disc is a cut-and-paste of killer licks and ripping jams. Filmmaker Ron Mann asked […]
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Shelly Campbell
Shelly Campbell Blue Ridge Reveille(Nettwerk)Campbell has crafted a delightful homespun masterpiece! Recorded in her home, the record is a soothing laidback trip through rural Americana. Touches of Victoria Williams, Son Volt, Kathleen Edwards and The Be Good Tanyas make this record a heads and shoulders release for best alt-country so far this year. Campbell is […]
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Pretty Girls Make Graves
Published October 09, 2003. Pretty Girls Make Graves The New Romance (Matador) Seattle’s Pretty Girls Make Graves became critic’s darlings with the amazing full-length debut Good Health, but their sophomore record is all the better. The New Romance is track after track of emotional punch that serves both the power of the music and the […]
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The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
The Killing of a Chinese BookieDirected by: John Cassavetes (Criterion Collection)John Cassavetes was one of the first actors (The Dirty Dozen, Rosemary’s Baby) to move away from the Hollywood mainstream and direct his own self-financed independent features. With his debut Shadows he helped to build the foundation of underground cinema, and in 1974 A Woman […]
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Bruce Springsteen
Bruce SpringsteenMagicSonyMagic may not be the rock comeback everyone hoped for. But an older and more embittered Springsteen not only proves he can still write great rockers, he proves he can do it while writing protest songs. The Boss isn’t the angst-ridden youth of 30 years ago, but Magic shows his skills are still as […]
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Kiss Me Deadly
Kiss Me DeadlyMistly MedleyAlien8 RecordingsYet another Montreal band heavily indebted to post-punk, Kiss Me Deadly is noisier than rival The Arcade Fire. Unfortunately, they lack a single as good or catchy as Fire’s “Rebellion,” but that doesn’t mean they suck. Quite the opposite: Misty Medley is a college radio classic in the making. There is […]