Reviews

I can’t help thinking of the term “caper” when I hear the new LP from Montreal’s Freelove Fenner. Not the pickled flower buds, but the kind of mischief that usually involves concealed motives, hushed breath and stealthy movements. The vocals are at once icy and impelling (recalling the late Trish Keenan of Broadcast), the guitar […]

Though the hit-making peak for Pet Shop Boys was 25 years ago, that’s more a reflection of mass obsession today for the new and transgressive than a reduced pop flair. Nothing on Electric will make you forget West End Girls, but there’s still jump in the fastball. Now into their 50s, Neil Tennant and Chris […]

This album crosses the line between independent and vanity. It’s well-packaged and -produced, with notable cameos (Ian Tyson, Johnny Burke) and countrified hits (Dave Clark Five, Buffy Sainte-Marie). Even an original, “Honeymoon,” borrows liberally from an Anne Murray chestnut. The sense is of someone moving to make their pastime a second career. A melding of […]

This select crew of nine players found time away from backing the likes of Cyndi Cain and Garrett Mason to forge its own funk. The numbers led by bassist/composer Rhéo Rochon, like “Crabwalk” and “Galapagos,” show the influence of Antibalas and Fela Kuti, creating space for hooks and solos. Live, they’d stretch out well beyond […]

To plot reference points for Crosss’ pitch-black groove seems pointless. It would be like discovering a heavy boulder in the depths of the Atlantic and pointing to some far-off mountain range. This is eternal stuff–dark, moving music on a prodigious scale. Over two years in the making, the precision playing and anesthetizing aura on this […]

Having paid her dues belting out the hits for tourists in the tropics, Cain delivers bona fide east coast soul on her second album. When she releases the hounds vocally on the title song, domesticity breaks into a spiritual. Cain’s chemistry with her band enriches the the atmosphere, not unlike Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. […]

On this digital-only EP from Vancouver’s Soft Serve, the influence can really be “felt,” if you catch my drift. Jangly leads and gently strummed backing guitars intermingle over driving drum beats and faithful bass lines. Sopping wet vocals come in from the rain to tell you that it’s actually quite fresh outside. While the playing […]

I like everything about British indie-rock trio Little Comets. I like the catchy beats, the theatrical enunciating of lead singer Robert Coles and I really like that their second single off of Life is Elsewhere is the domestic violence/rape-themed ballad “Violence Out Tonight.” (If you haven’t seen the powerful video yet, YouTube that shit, I’ll […]

On its contribution to the new batch of Craft Singles, Halifax’s twin-powered trio offers the listener two salient sides of the same smirk. Similar to its nomenclature, the A-side— “You Are One With The Iron-heart Device”—pokes sardonically at the idea of paradise. Singer Mark Grundy hints at several different moods and interpretations by peppering small […]

Montreal multi-instrumentalist Michael Silver, known as CFCF, changes it up a touch on his second full-length album. Rhythm is now more an atmosphere inducer than a stoker of physical response. Opener “Beyond Light” throbs with tribal, primeval power to a make a little electronic noodling much more entrancing than it would otherwise be. Silver sings […]

If you remember Dennis Ellsworth from his rock band The Rude Mechanicals, you’ll find Hazy Sunshine less saucy but more melodic. Having moved from PEI to Ontario and back again, he has been prolific. Along the way, he co-wrote “Coke Machine Glow” with Gord Downie. It’s included here, with Kinley Dowling’s somber viola and lush […]

So you’re in the mood to feel like shit? Then Mourning Trance is the album for you. Which is testament to guitarist and vocalists Brendon Saarinen and Eric Young, whose melodic droning in album opener “Burial Suit” is the perfect soundtrack to staying in bed when you can’t think of a reason not to. “Cause […]