Reviews

Producer Howard Redekopp (New Pornographers, Mother Mother) at times dominates the music on Afterlife Blues with his bang-chime-reverb imprint. The title song benefits from getting some sonic space to stand on its’ spooky, Kinksian own: “From up here, it makes you seem so small.” Elsewhere, lyrics get fogged and instruments fall into a blender. A […]

Fifty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an assortment of Canadians bring to life the jottings of the little-known Scott Garbe. Viewpoints get portrayed in the manner of Jesus Christ Superstar, from an emergency room orderly (“Parkland”) to Jack Ruby (“When Will I Be Mine”) to First Lady Jacqueline (“Disintegrating”). The latter […]

Were this the early 1990s, Garlic Fingers would be the empty cassette case you carry around all your pre-rolls in, because the actual tape wouldn’t leave the deck of the car you borrow from your dad. Lo-fi garage rock infused with energy, attitude and a grit that’s pure Dartmouth—Billie Dre & The Poor Boys are […]

For all the meandering, all the fog and confusion and the splattering of sounds that happens on any given Magik Markers release (of which there are ostensibly countless), there is always something very pure and direct at the core. The Connecticut trio makes fevered, impressionistic rock music that has evolved slowly into something resembling song-formed […]

The Halifax four-piece dropped two wet demos onto Bandcamp way back in the summer of 2012—the lilting, key-driven “Demagnetize” and head-bopper “Last Night,” a straight fucking jam with layers of verse vocal lines leading into a perfect pop chorus. Both appear on this awaited/anticipated full-length alongside eight other songs skillfully laced with keyboard lines, riffs […]

The opening strains of former Haligonian Eugene Ripper’s Fast Folk Underground are mild and twinkly, betraying his veteran punk roots. Pedal-steel twangs and the metallic percussion of an acoustic guitar look ahead to Ripper’s present and future. Ripper’s voice sits high on top, raspily reciting letters to an unknown subject, evolving to near psychedelia with […]

The Austin trio takes an inspired approach to the covers record, highlighting songs from past tourmates on Fellow Travelers. It’s an interesting assortment of artists, including Coldplay, Clinic, Wye Oak, St. Vincent and Folk Implosion (please pass on the number of your booking agent dudes). Singer Jonathan Meiburg has a deep, beautiful voice in the […]

The long-awaited sequel to Deltron 3030 arrives 13 years later, about seven years after Dan the Automator and Kid Koala prepared tracks for Del the Funky Homosapien’s raps. How do you follow up the end of Earth civilization, when even alien invaders took a pass? Why, with better dance beats, alternate reality and defiance of […]

The title song is a composition by Smiley Bates, who was as country as you could get 40 years ago, a simplicity you wouldn’t expect to inspire these two consummate Newfoundland musicians. Duane Andrews has a flair for flourish and is best known for carrying forward the legacy of Django Reinhardt. Craig Young came back […]

A follow up to February’s addictive demo, Grump’s Love Punk Hate Punks—a five song assault—keeps the intensity at the same searing high. From the first moments, an almost uncomfortable length of ear-splitting feedback on opener “Paroxysm”, to the epic (at 2:31, this is basically the band’s “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”) and driving “Culture In […]

A native Cape Bretoner now based in Winnipeg, MacPherson makes genre-defying rock that continues to gain emotional force. Lead track “1995” muses about youthful idealism, squandered affections and redirected energy with a slashing guitar jamming in extra notes to emphasize the vision quest. A blindfold quiz on MacPherson would be tough. Fireball roars like Creedence […]

Land of the Lotus Eaters, Halifax rapper, hip-hop scholar and spoken word artist hermitofthewoods’ most recent release combines his talents to create a body of work that is both rap album and manifesto. Rooting itself in musical traditions from classic hip-hop to industrial noise poetics with equal ease, delivering sober reality checks with driving raps, rabble […]