Quaker Parents – ‘No Crime When Covered In Grime’
Over the last two years, this frenetic pop trio have been allocating their laconic anthems to a series of short-run cassettes. The medium is well suited: each song feels perfectly cramped, overfull with wit and bursting at the seams with clever invention. Their most recent effort, No Crime When Covered In Grime, is a further refinement of all their idiosyncrasies.… Continue reading
Dan Mangan – ‘Oh Fortune’
I don’t know how old Dan Mangan is, and Oh Fortune does nothing to suggest how many years he’s spent honing his song writing. If a guess were hinged on his lyrics, he’s outlived most people already and possesses the wisdom to prove it. He’s written laments for a life unspent in Post War Blues; and Leaves, Trees, Forest comes to the realization of just… Continue reading
Cousins – Secret Weapon / Speech 7″
For those who like their tones clean, their recordings painstakingly pored over, and their songs needlessly novel- I have a message for you: Get your head(s) out of your asses. Listen to Cousins’ Secret Weapon/Speech seven inch. No clarity in music is more necessary than good songwriting, and both sides of this album are covered in a film of static energy and… Continue reading
Braids – ‘Native Speaker’
Winter in Canada is always difficult to deal with. Anyone that tells you otherwise is a liar. It’s unpredictable, dark and dismal- most importantly, its really, really cold. Braids offered solace through the more difficult cold spells with their release of Native Speaker at the start of this year. From the thawing beginning of Lemonade, those frostbitten moments ride a slow wave of sparse, building percussion and a… Continue reading
Colin Stetson – ‘New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges’
Colin Stetson’s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges is, in the classical sense of the word, a sublime thing – terrifyingly powerful and large, almost unfathomably so. I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t learn of it until it made the Polaris short list, though Stetson himself carries an impressive resume, playing and recording with the likes of Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Tom Waits,… Continue reading
Shotgun Jimmie – ‘Transistor Sister’
Shotgun Jimmie comes from the heart of the heart of the heart of New Brunswick. He plays from the heart of his heart. His guitar bounces gleefully, charges steadily forward. Your ears perk up and he starts singing about all his friends, who remind you of all your friends. His words are full of carefree consideration. He is a performer whose… Continue reading
Dog Day – ‘Deformer’
I have always liked a good song over fashion, fame, or finesse. This is the reason Dog Day have always had a special place in my heart and stereo. From the first glimpse of their potential on their Thank You EP, to the confirmation of greatness with their Night Group LP, they have yet to resort to tricks or gloss. You would be wasting your time… Continue reading
Hooded Fang – ‘Album’
Hooded Fang’s Album may have been recorded in a run-of-the-mill studio, but on its first listen, that information becomes dubitable. It’s much more likely that these songs were strung together with brightly coloured yarn woven by the band dawning hand-drawn monster masks atop a treehouse in a bioluminescent marsh. Everything about Album is bright, beaming and optimistically imaginative, but it never reaches that headache-inducing… Continue reading
Joan Of Arc – ‘Life Like’
Though I count the Kinsellas among my favourite musicians, Joan of Arc has been a tricky band to follow. How Memory Works and So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness are early favourites. Joan of Arc, Dick Cheney, Mark Twain and Boo! Human – both great. To be certain, all of their works peaks at brilliance, but in their twenty or… Continue reading
The Weather Station – ‘All Of It Was Mine’
“What if I’ve been fooled / by a story, or a song / or a memory remembered wrong?” “If I’ve Been Fooled” Sometimes I have to wonder: what really happened? What’s an experience and how do I know if I’ve had one? Memory is, by nature, imperfect; it’s messy, futile, and even dishonest at times. We have the ability… Continue reading
Steven McKay – ‘For Emma’
Steve McKay (Bruce Peninsula, Dr. Ew), Toronto and Hamilton consummate accompanist and all around band junkie released his first solo full length record in 2010 called For Emma. In this day and age of disposible media, this is not an art piece to over look. It is full of beautifully odd, unique songs that dip from one time signature to… Continue reading
The Olympic Symphonium – ‘The City Won’t Have Time To Fight’
The ever-tasteful gentlemen who make up The Olympic Symphonium have locked themselves away and created a cozy nook for all to share. On The City Won’t Have Time To Fight, their words are clear and earnest, their melodies reassuring. Opener ‘No Bad Habits’ solicits the listener to“Try it all again/Try to comprehend/why it’s been out so far/Try to reel it in/one… Continue reading
Chad VanGaalen – ‘Diaper Island’
In Japanese, the word ‘ayashii’ describes that which is eerie, but beautiful and charming too. I bring you this baby lesson in Japanese because no other term manages to characterize the Chad VanGaalen universe quite like ‘ayashii.’ From Infiniheart through the Black Mold project, and now, on his newest, Diaper Island – all ayashii. On DI, VanGaalen sounds woodsy and organic – sparse percussion over… Continue reading
David Bazan – ‘Strange Negotiations’
In most cases, discussions of G-O-D and the big existential questions seem a bit gauche for indie rock. Not that the ground is necessarily marked by nihilism and apathy, but it takes a special kind of voice – weary, and pining for truth – asking the right questions, to engage listeners on such a divisive, heady topic. Pedro the Lion’s… Continue reading
Little Scream – ‘The Golden Record’
The Golden Record is full of ghosts. My ears perked up at the first notes ofAmahl, as Laurel Sprengelmeyer’s voice glides in from a mile away with genuine ethereal ease. The weaving vocal melodies throughout the record are knit tightly, and act as scenery as much as they do subject matter. It’s very easy to daydream through Little Scream’s lyrics on… Continue reading
PS I Love You – ‘Meet Me At The Muster Station’
I find it hard not to personify Meet Me At The Muster Station. Its title track’s first blush is the profile of a charismatic playboy, backed by the whirling dervish exchanges contained in Breadends and 2012; PS I Love You’s lasting impression is that of a freewheeling yet calculated life-of-the-party. Muster Station’s ability to carry that raucous energy throughout without feeling worn or stagnant is… Continue reading
The Dinner Belles – ‘West Simcoe County’
A sweet collective of more like minded folks couldn’t have better planned this band & album. The Dinner Belles are a Hamilton super group of sorts that all hang up their heavy rock’n’roll, pop, synth hats from their other bands for straw ones. The girls dawn summer dresses, the boys put on their boots and plaid shirts and together accurately… Continue reading
Doctor Ew – ‘Gadzooks’
From the first listen, it’s very clear that there’s something about Doctor Ew that genuinely inspires happiness. Everything on Gadzooks has an endearing pertness that’s nearly impossible not to bop along to. His songs bustle along concisely without sprawl, and they never feel abbreviated. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I have nothing to hide’ he declares unfeigned during Bitter Fruit, and it’s quite easy to… Continue reading
Papermaps – Self-titled
Papermaps are a sensible bunch of folks who understand that the quickest and easiest path isn’t always the best one. In their self-titled record, the band shows they’re adept at navigating the pop spectrum without sacrificing their willingness to explore and experiment. This is a band that has seen enough of the world to know that even the most tenacious… Continue reading
The Rural Alberta Advantage – ‘Departing’
In 2008, The Rural Alberta Advantage released their debut album Hometowns, a memoir of growing up in small-town Canada that had a good chunk of the music world all-of-a-sudden enamoured. The trio charmed listeners with their mashed-up folk-pop and tales of homesickness dosed with a distinctly Albertan Canadiana. Three years on, the RAA have just released their follow-up, Departing, on Paper Bag in Canada… Continue reading
One Hundred Dollars – ‘Songs of Man’
Yes, Toronto’s One Hundred Dollars manage a typically rural sound, despite their distinctly urban home base. And yes, the band approaches country music unlike caricaturists or ironists, but with a genuine reverence for the form. These are no longer the stories to be told about One Hundred Dollars. Now, at the release of their sophomore album, Songs of Man, the real… Continue reading
Bahamas – ‘Pink Strat’
Afie Jurvanen is a subtly disarming man who, I will admit at the first glance of the cover art for Pink Strat, I had taken for a brash and cocky archetype; A James Dean or young Marlon Brando more interested in riding a motorcycle through the halls of a rural high school than writing music. Though within the first few seconds… Continue reading
Land of Talk – ‘Cloak and Cipher’
When I first heard Land of Talk they were not the band they are today. It was shortly after the release of their Applause Cheer Boo Hiss EP, and I was instantly enamored with the band’s two-fisted, punchy approach. Their guitars were crunchy and vocalist Elizabeth Powell’s coarsely beautiful voice was the perfect compliment to their well-constructed, abrasively catchy arrangements. Though there are… Continue reading
Maylee Todd – ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’
Maylee Todd doesn’t take herself too seriously, but she definitely shouldn’t be taken lightly. By the time Summer Sounds kicks in, any expectations you had for Choose Your Own Adventure will be shot out of a cannon whereupon they burn up in the stratosphere, raining down in a vibrant rainbow of harp strings and whimsical harmonies. There is not an ounce of pretension present… Continue reading
