RIGHTEOUS WOMAN A CONVERSATION WITH MARTHA MEREDITH OF FOR ESMÉ For Esmé is a band based in Toronto, fronted by Martha Meredith. Meredith and For Esmé is getting ready for the release of For Esmé’s third album, Righteous Woman. This will be the [...]
BRING BACK THE BLITZ KIDS A CONVERSATION WITH TIM MUDDIMAN Tim Muddiman is a musician with an impressive resume. He played guitar for Pop Will Eat Itself from 2010 until 2016. During this time he also served as the guitarist for Gary Numan. He [...]
TORONTO’S SONGWRITING SANCTUARY A CONVERSATION WITH MEMBERS OF THE TORONTO SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION Songwriters need at least two things in order to develop their craft: some form of an audience and feedback. In Toronto, songwriters are [...]
For Esmé Righteous Woman Independent Righteous Woman is electronic folk music. For this album, For Esmé’s Martha Meredith is clearing fronting the band and the album is her concept album. It is a feminist album, but rather than a political [...]
Ry Cooder The Prodigal Son Fantasy Records Ry Cooder has been playing since the 1960s and is one of the most respected slide guitarists to pick up a slide. He is also a brilliant guitarist, he is stunning at playing multiple instruments. On top [...]
Paul McCartney New (Reissue) MPL/Universal Music This reissue seems a little odd. Paul McCartney is in the process of reissuing his older albums, many in expanded, box set formats. New was released a mere five years ago, but McCartney has [...]
Paul McCartney Chaos And Creation In The Backyard (Reissue) MPL/Universal Music Paul McCartney has made a point of reissuing his older albums over the last few years. Usually these take the form of expanded box sets, but on May 18 he is [...]
Paul McCartney Wings Greatest (Reissue) MPL/Universal Music Over the last few years, Paul McCartney has rereleased several of his albums, usually in a variety of formats and usually in expanded editions. On May 18, 2018 he is rereleasing four [...]
Matt Dorrien In The Key Of Grey Mama Bird Recording Co. In The Key Of Grey is Matt Dorrien’s debut album. He has releasesd two albums under the name Snowblind Traveller, but In The Key Of Grey is his first album under his name. The first track, [...]
Rat Scabies P.H.D. (Prison, Hospital, Debt) Cleopatra Records It is hard to believe, but it has been forty years since the Damned released their debut album, Damned Damned Damned. Rat Scabies (born Christopher John Millar) was of course, the [...]
Paul McCartney Thrillington MPL/Universal Music An odd album by Paul McCartney and an even odder choice for rerelease. Over the past few years, Paul McCartney has been rereleasing his catalogue. Usually this takes the form of a box set or [...]
Damien Jurado w/ Naomi Wachira @ The Great Hall, Toronto May 16, 2018 Damien Jurado returned to Toronto on May 16, 2018, and it was a welcomed return. Accompanied by Joshua Gordon on guitar, Jurado performed most of his new, brilliant album, [...]
Françoise Hardy (translated into English by Jon E. Graham)- The Despair Of Monkeys And Other Trifles: A Memoir Feral House Publishers May 15, 2018 Françoise Hardy has had quite a career. She rose to fame as a singer-songwriter in the 1960s. She [...]
MARTIN POPOFF – THE CLASH: ALL THE ALBUMS, ALL THE SONGS VOYAGEUR PRESS – MAY 15, 2018 BOOK REVIEW BY AARON BADGLEY This is the kind of book about musicians that I love. Martin Popoff has written a book about the studio output of The [...]
HERE WE GO LOVE A CONVERSATION WITH DAVE WAKELING OF THE ENGLISH BEAT “I was close to being a Canadian,” says Dave Wakeling during our recent conversation. “My Granddad, after World War One, wanted to be a Mountie. So he applied, but he was too [...]
Tim Muddiman And The Strange Domino Blitz Gun Street Music In many ways, this is what Woody Guthrie would have sounded like if he was young and alive today. That is not to say that Domino Blitz is folk, or even close to the sound of Guthrie, but [...]
Spray Anthologised By Cherry Red Banoffeesound/Ninthwave Records Spray is a synth-based duo from the U.K., made up of siblings Ricardo Autobahn and Jenny McLaren. Both were originally in the band Cuban Boys (of “Hampsterdance” fame, which was [...]
Loreena McKennitt Lost Souls Quinlan Road Lost Souls is Loreena McKennitt’s tenth studio album, and her first album of original material since 2006’s An Ancient Muse. She has released albums since An Ancient Muse (2008’s A Midwinter Night’s [...]
LOST SOULS A CONVERSATION WITH LOREENA McKENNITT In 1985 an album was released on an independent label, Quinlan Road, entitled Elemental. Great title, but even better album. The artist who released that album, Loreena McKennitt could not have [...]
WHY ANYTHING? WHY THIS? A CONVERSATION WITH CARL MARSH OF SHRIEKBACK In 1981, Barry Andrews and Dave Allen formed Shriekback. Carl Marsh joined the duo, and shortly thereafter Shriekback formed Y records. It was through Y Records that they [...]
Shonen Knife Alive! In Osaka Good Charamel Records Shonen Knife is a Japanese punk band, formed in 1981 in Osaka, Japan. Their classic debut album, Minna Tanoshiku, was released in 1982 and since then they have issued an astonishing 21 studio [...]
Frank Turner Be More Kind Xtra Mile Recordings In late 2017, Frank Turner released a career spanning album, Songbook, which included old songs, some reworking of the old songs, and some deep cuts from his catalogue. As this was being issued, he [...]
Arthur Alexander One Bar Left Dead Beat Records Arthur Alexander formed Sorrows in 1977 in New York City. They released two solid, now classic power pop albums, then promptly broke up. He resurfaced on the revered Bomp record label with another [...]
STAYING HUNGRY A CONVERSATION WITH THE ZOMBIES SINGER/SONGWRITER COLIN BLUNSTONE Colin Blunstone has been performing professionally for a very long time, and he shows no signs of slowing down. He was part of the original British Invasion of [...]
