Review: The Just Barelys – ‘Mad Bits’

The Just Barelys crystalized their sound a couple of albums ago and are running right on time with their new release Mad Bits. The duo is known for their dance beats, angular lyrics, and pop intuition making them accessible and interesting.The metronomic drumming of Eleanor King ticking along to Stephen Kelly’s lengthy guitar vocabulary encase the album with a solid backing. Like a polished… Continue reading →

Review: Mike O’Neil – ‘Wild Lines’

I often wonder what would be left of our era if, through whatever circumstance, only the things that could be kept in our memories survived. What works of music would last through posterity? Would the ease of repetition and hidden mystical quality of melody overcome lesser songs than have been marketed better? I would argue that the contagious lines of… Continue reading →

Staff List: Favourite Canadian tracks of 2011

Andrew Patterson’s Picks A strange self-reflexive narrative that’s part dream and part nightmare. A miniature jangle pop odyssey (complete with prominent shakers and sarcastic colloquialisms). In just over two minutes, Sheer Agony prove to be the exact opposite of their name: tractably delightful. Alex Zhang Huntai does his best to take a Francois Hardy song and make it even sexier.… Continue reading →

Review: Dixie’s Death Pool – ‘The Man With The Flowering Hands’

Dixie’s Death Pool’s latest record The Man With the Flowering Hands reveals itself like a series of lifting and drifting veils, each passing attitude gently giving way to another shifting impression of a mood. The songs fit together like floating aural continents bridged by field recordings and improvised sonics, each tune a strange country with new ways of unfolding musical… Continue reading →

Staff List: Favourite Canadian albums of 2011

Destroyer – Kaputt It’s been a wild ride as a Destroyer fan through the years: Dan Bejar as scrappy bedroom genius. Dan Bejar as David Bowie descendant. Dan Bejar as MIDI maniac. Dan Bejar as supergroup superstar. Dan Bejar as sprawling pop mastermind. Dan Bejar as melodramatic, self-referencing self-aggrandizer. Dan Bejar as spacey nu-disco cosmonaut. And what now? In 2011,… Continue reading →