Cracker
Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
429 Records
Since the early 1990s, and most famously with 1993’s platinum selling Kerosene Hat, Cracker has been providing an interesting take on contemporary alternative country (think ...
Sadly, this is One Drop’s final album. There’s worse news, too. One Drop has kicked the can for the last time. Yeah, the band has disbanded after a six year experience. Hopefully they’ll get back together sooner or later, as this five...
Derek Miller
The Dirty Looks
Arbor
I try to balance the good and bad in my reviews, even if I'm not into the style. I don't like saying it, but the sophomore album from Ontario's Derek Miller thoroughly sucks. It sounds like a bar band...
Let me preface this review by saying I’ve known Summer since she was barely out of her teens and coming out to sit in or jam at various venues I was playing at around Victoria BC. I’ve watched her career with great interest and she has ...
Crop Circle may have taken their name from the controversial 70’s phenomenon, but they have also managed to contribute to a more recent enigma: the earworm. Traditionally, this little beastie takes the form of a trite pop song (think Ms. ...
Black Wizard
s/t
Vancouver's music scene seems to be traditionally known for two things: drugs and hard rock. Despite the critical pitfalls of these influences, the city has a habit of inexplicably turning out the most palatable and au...
A Seven Inch Mixdown by Rene Milord:
First up is an Albertan band called MYELIN SHEATHS with a disjointed, noisy, poppy, post-punk EP. It’s kind of sloppy, perhaps better live? Hozac Records 047 (at Pat’s Pub, May 6)
Next up ...
Fans of guitar tone have a lot to learn about Bill Johnson. His fourth album, Cold Outside should be the one that has this Vancouver Island native flying high above the radar, finally. Ripe with an abundance of select tracks, Johnson proves...
Bill Johnson contributes eight originals to his Still Blue, each one a fine example of a contemporary blues song, not merely a retread of a familiar 12 bar theme, and each sung in his evocative voice. The variety of approaches, from the sne...
Lay it On Me
Self-distributed
Waa-BOOM! With an album title ripped from frontman Ryan Hoben’s muscleman tattoos, indiefolkrocksters Minto punch it open with sludgy dirge, “New Bones” – formerly a chooglin’ alt-country number i...