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...
Angela Verbrugge: The Night We Couldn’t Say Goodnight (Gut String) A review of the debut album from the Canadian vocalist
It's a rare occasion when an album captures me with such force on the first listen and keeps me rapt until the closing note, but this one takes the prize. In fact this is one of the best albums i have ever heard. Rob Nicholls and Galen Rigt...
BLACK MOUNTAIN
In The Future
Jagjaguwar
When I hear Stephen McBean’s slowly-picked A-minor guitar intro for “Stormy High,” I’m almost tricked into thinking it’s a cover of “Hell’s Bells,” but then the swing-time Black...
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...
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...
Here are some ladies that not only sing, but compose and arrange as well. Angela Verbrugge gives singers like Lorraine Feather a run for their money with her witty lyrics on her originals that area mixed with some clever covers.
THE BLACK HALOS
We Are Not Alone
Acetate
God bless Billy Hopeless & the Halos. They’ve earned their entry into that category that bands like Motörhead, AC/DC, & The Ramones (the Holy Trinity of Rock) fit into – you always know wh...
Soprano’s Bar, Victoria’s only live karaoke joint and notorious dive bar, has closed its doors for good, going out with a bang on New Year’s Eve.
A message posted on the bar’s Facebook page on Dec. 31 served as the official annou...
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 ...
The Japandroids are a two piece guitar wailing, drum pounding, singing machine, (do droids get angry when you call them machines?) and ‘Lullaby Death Jams’ is their recipe for a good time. It’s made up of five interestingly good track...