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. ...
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...
ENGLISH MOTETS
The Gesualdo Six / Owain Park · Hyperion CDA68256
The Gesualdo Six hardly need a review of this their debut CD: within days of its release around Easter it was top of the iTunes classical chart. The CD is a collection of E...
Unfamiliar Records.
The scene has been hit by the sharp sounds of a new five piece: The Clips. The debut album Matterhorn is made of raw, electric energy mingling among melodies. Lyrically, the album is freeform, created strictly from wh...
The Beatdown
Walkin' Proud
CD - LP
Stomp Records - STMP099
The Beatdown have become masters of their craft! Their 2010 debut album saw the group carry on the work put down with One Night Band and carried into into garage rock terri...
Cadence Weapon
Afterparty Babies
Big Dada
4/5
Canada doesn't produce a whole lot of hip-hop in general, let alone the sterile mall haven of Edmonton. As such, the sophomore album from Rollie Pemberton (aka Cadence Weapon) is going to ...
Martin Springett's The Gardening Club is cosmic Canadiana at its best, and his story is a CanCon prog rock version of the Searching For Sugar Man saga
Produced by Hawksley Workman, Wind Up/Let Go is a tasty, ten-track synth-pop treat.
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...
CD Review for Still Blue
Mr. Johnson jumped into view as a nominee for Guitarist of the Year in 2006. This Victoria-based bluesman jammed onstage after the Awards Show and left behind a couple of impressive CDs. This new one is even...
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...
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...