Reviews

Yes, Bahamas—Toronto’s Afie Jurvanen—was once Feist’s tour guitarist. But he isn’t so much a descendent of her tree, as he’s cultivated from the loam of Canadian folk, which is crystallizing a distinctive trait: an unfussy, believable honesty. Danny Michel, Sarah Harmer and Feist too—they sing of universal sadness and believe every word. Jurvanen does too, […]

An EP of six songs, with only one topping three minutes, this is lean, mean and fucking good. From the first riff and waah-oh of “Hitting The Bottle,” the Halifax trio (Jillian Comeau, Kim Carson and Michelle Skelding)stakes its claim to a sweaty, relentless sound, tapping into a particular be-leathered badass rock vein. What makes […]

For those who have had the art- pop gems of The Just Barely’s 2005 release Top stuck in their heads for years, you’ll be pleased to hear their latest, Mad Bits, has enough solid jams to keep you going for another seven years. The time spent since the last release hasn’t been wasted—there’s absolutely no […]

The Halifax indie scene would be missing a few beats over the last 20 years if not for Benn Ross, a veritable Zelig of the skins. Every few years, he’ll call in some favours and set loose his own muse. With its refrain”Come out from the shadows now,” “Hiding Heart” describes shyness and the struggle […]

In the past 10 years, Athens, Georgia’s Of Montreal released seven albums, two of them absolute pop gems (2007’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?; 2010’s False Priest). But fans tend to forget that before Kevin Barnes found his foothold as the godfather of psychedelic indie-rock, Of Montreal were a spectacularly terrible twee-pop band. Paralytic […]

Chairlift’s second full-length, Something, is a mess of retro synths and ’80s pop vocals perfect for the American Apparel crowd. The two-piece sounds like what you’d expect from a group that licenses its music to Apple: downtempo electronica that was probably made on a MacBook. Their minimalist aesthetic is most similar to the UK’s SBTRKT […]

If there’s such a thing as postmodern rap, A$AP Rocky’s LIVELOVEA$AP qualifies: he’s a Harlem native who raps with a brazen Houston drawl and admires grills and purple syrup, who spits like the swaggering spawn of Odd Future and The Cool Kids, and whose name is a little too reminiscent of still-active MC Aesop Rock. Which […]

The Unthanks sisters perform this tribute in a semi-classical setting at Union Chapel in London, England. Their disarming humour saves proceedings from becoming overly reverent. The six songs of Antony Hegarty are pretty but slight, leaving a notion that it’s an alien androgynous voice driving his appeal. The Robert Wyatt segment is another matter. Nine […]

Reclusive, enigmatic, talented—all words that describe Ryan Adams, an artist who seems to be forged from the same mold as Neil Young. Ryan Adams bears an artistic integrity not found on many albums, his “my way or the highway” mentality may not garner him the adulation of the masses, but the albums are definite critical successes. Ashes […]

Immaculate Machine may be done and New Pornographers are taking a break. The good news is keyboardist/singer Kathryn Calder has blossomed with two albums in just over a year. Any observant listener cannot be surprised that the Victoria-based performer has got it going on. Particularly fond of ’80s synthesizers and the echo chamber, she still […]

A bit of a Maritime pop-punk supergroup featuring members of The Varsity Weirdos, The Hemingways and The Fat Stupids, Weekend Dads deliver four anthems whose seeming bravado and energy belie their middle-aged melancholia. How else can you describe a band that shouts lyrics like “Why don’t we all throw in the towel?” I don’t want […]

The Weeknd’s first two mixtapes were full-bodied marvels of highly sexualized understatement. And while Echoes of Silence doesn’t share House of Balloons’ out-of-nowhere punch, or the pervasive doom in “Thursday,” it boldly shouts that, after 27 songs in just 10 months, possibility’s still possible for Toronto’s Abel Tesfaye. If you thought he was getting comfortable in his new-Prince […]