Reviews

Oh Bla Duh was released back in May, but truly burst open once summer hit. Opening song “MRA” is loaded with promise, pulsing out of your car speakers and into your brain, straight through your legs and out as you cannonball into the water. “Kool” has twangy, leaping guitars that lick at your consciousness like the […]

Sound is the colour they know. Part Mexican funeral band, part bloated brass section, The Rip Tide balances out subtly by being over the top. Zach Condon’s infatuation with accordion oozes throughout. “East Harlem”’s warbly wordplay takes listeners uptown, downtown. Having left home for Paris, Condon muses about the inevitable return to Santa Fe. He asks […]

History is littered with average albums trying to recapture an artist’s prime. Hip-hop fans don’t have to look far for recent examples, from Jay-Z’s drowsy Blueprint 3 to Wale’s embarrassing More About Nothing mixtape. But Royce Da 5’9” feels a little different. Although he’s in a different place, he’s got the same feral hunger. The production is glossier and the […]

After lineup adjustments, Dog Day settled into life as a two-piece of Seth Smith and Nancy Urich, but the sound doesn’t lack for the reduced size. Opening on the lush, heavy “Daydream,” it’s still the same Dog Day. “Part Girl” has mournful verses paired with a catchy chorus that will stick in your head for […]

Davis shares his inspiration in the blues here, following a couple of folksy albums celebrating life in Nova Scotia. Two strong Robert Johnson covers (including one done in a dorm room in 1973) and a Jimmy Reed tribute, “Thank You, Mr. Reed,” set up his originals nicely. “Anticipation” has wisdom and wit regarding desire, reward […]

J Mascis, lead guitarist of Dinosaur Jr., sure knows how to shred a tasty solo. But even the most established guitar hero has a soft side. Sounding like the indie-rock version of Lenny Breau, Mascis trades in his Big Muff guitar pedals and Fender Jazzmaster for an acoustic axe on his new solo album. Lighter […]

On this debut EP from Halifax’s Southern Shores, each track bubbles its way into existence, as if appearing out of a tropical haze on the horizon, and then wanders off before growing stale. Despite being less than a year old, the duo shows a great sophistication in production and pace: cleverly placed film dialogues give […]

Danger Mouse likes The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly a lot. So much so that for his new studio album he decided to join with Italian composer Daniele Luppi, guitar vagabond Jack White and Norah Jones, and make a soundtrack for a movie that doesn’t exist. The result is Rome, an album that sounds […]

The last two Low albums, The Great Destroyer and Drums and Guns, were angry, angular testaments that seemed to signal the band was moving beyond the quiet-but-intense-melodies which defined its first albums. But apparently not. Maybe that is because The Retribution Gospel Choir has provided Alan Sparhawk an outlet in which to unleash his fury. […]

Ripping at the constraints of the “roots-rock” niche, The Felice Brothers deliver a multi-flavoured, sometimes bewildering set of songs. Opener “Fire at the Pageant,” with its cries of “Calm down!” and “Call 911!” while an undead patriarch meanders back into town, sets the table for absurdity. More frenzy ensues on “Honda Civic” around accordion, brass […]

With each release, these Manhattan experimentalists become more confident and continue to crystallize their disparate influences; Eye Contact, their fifth album, is no exception. The album opens with a voice saying “I can hear everything, it’s everything time” which is the perfect descriptor for the blissful psychedelia that follows. From its beginnings as an edgy, […]