I KNOW IT’S ONLY MISTLETOE (BUT I LIKE IT) SPILL MAGAZINE DIGS DEEP INTO SOME OF THE BEST/WORST 2024 CHRISTMAS RELEASES (PART TWO) Well, it is that time of year again, to gather friends and family and get together for Christmas, the most [...]
MENNO VERSTEEG WHY WE RUN ROYAL MOUNTAIN RECORDS Menno Versteeg has plenty to be proud of. The Hollerado co-founder and front man, who also performs and records with Anyway Gang, has previously released music under the pseudonym Mav Karlo. Why [...]
THE PSYCH FI’S CAN CON BOBO INTEGRAL When we think about psychedelic music, our thoughts typically go to the bygone era of the 1960s and bands such as early Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, and Sgt. Pepper-Era Beatles. Psychedelic rock is [...]
TV ON THE RADIO DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOOD THIRSTY BABES (20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION) TOUCH AND GO RECORDS Looking back on the release of their 2004 debut album, Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, Brooklyn art-rockers TV On The Radio commemorate [...]
JERRY LEGER AND THE SITUATION w/ LORI YATES @ HUGH’S ROOM LIVE, TORONTO NOVEMBER 7, 2024 The fans were out, and spirits were high at Toronto’s east-end acoustic/roots venue, Hugh’s Room Live, for a sold-out show featuring folk/roots [...]
MAN AT WORK A CONVERSATION WITH JERRY LEGER There’s no rest for the wicked, or so the saying goes. With this in mind, Jerry Leger has been wickedly busy of late. The past year has been an eventful one for the Toronto singer-songwriter. From the [...]
I YA TOYAH DRAMA INDEPENDENT The new album from the industrial darkwave artist I Ya Toya is the aptly-named DRAMA. The drama is truly high in this 10-song collection, co-produced by I Ya Toyah (a.k.a. Ania Tarnowska) and Walter Flakus of [...]
BOOM – A FILM ABOUT THE SONICS SCRATCH VINYL FILMS IN THEATRES SEPTEMBER 13, 2024 After a number of successful festival screenings, the producers of “BOOM: A Film About The Sonics” are releasing the film to theatres in select cities. The [...]
OLD MAN FLANAGAN’S GHOST SIMPLE LITTLE BOAT INDEPENDENT An act that is well-known for tearing it up in pubs, and at festivals and public events, the Toronto indie Celtic stalwarts Old Man Flanagan’s Ghost (OMFG) have released their third [...]
MONIQUE BARRY HAAK INDEPENDENT HAAK is the fifth album from Toronto-based singer, songwriter and keyboardist, Monique Barry. It is her first full album release since 2013’s Wake, and while it took an unexpected seven years to complete, it has [...]
LORI CULLEN THE THUNDER AND THE BAY INDEPENDENT With the release of The Thunder And The Bay, Toronto singer-songwriter Lori Cullen definitely has something to celebrate. The album is Cullen’s first full-length release since 2022’s Blood Wonder, [...]
RICHARD THOMPSON SHIP TO SHORE NEW WEST RECORDS Singer-songwriter-guitarist Richard Thompson is celebrating the release of new music with his album Ship To Shore. Thompson first made a name for himself in the 1960s as a pioneer of British [...]
DON McLEAN AMERICAN BOYS BMG/THE ORCHARD Imagine that you’re a veteran singer-songwriter in your late 70s. You have had a storied career, and you wrote one of the most iconic pop songs of the 20th century. What kind of recording do you make in [...]
INDIGO GIRLS – IT’S ONLY LIFE AFTER ALL OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES MAY 7, 2024 After an official Canadian release in April 2024, Oscilloscope Laboratories celebrates the digital release of the Indigo Girls documentary, It’s Only Life [...]
EXTC – TERRY CHAMBERS AND FRIENDS @ HEINEKEN STAGE, CLASSIC BOWL, MISSISSAUGA MAY 5, 2024 Fact: the English new wave pop band XTC famously stopped making live concert appearances in 1982, and became a studio-based entity. For fans, this [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS LOVE, LA ORG MUSIC Compilation albums have often been hit-and-miss, over the course of recorded music history, but that is not the case with Love, LA. This multi-artist release is a rare gem among the ‘compilation’ genre. As a [...]
GILLIAN G. GAAR – SPRINGSTEEN @ 75 QUATRO PUBLISHING GROUP BOOK REVIEW BY BRYAN WILLISTON In honour of Bruce Springsteen’s 75th birthday, Gillian Gaar and Quarto Publishing have released the commemorative book, Springsteen @ 75. At first [...]
MATTHEW SWEET @ TD MUSIC HALL, TORONTO APRIL 13, 2024 “We haven’t been here in decades! I don’t know why it’s taken so long,” declared singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet from the stage of the TD Music Hall. Grizzled, and wearing a baggy shirt and a [...]
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF THE PAST IS STILL ALIVE NONESUCH RECORDS The Past Is Still Alive is the latest release from Roots/Americana artist Hurray for the Riff Raff (AKA Alynda Segarra). Following their 2022 album Life on Earth, Segarra began [...]
MUSIC THAT FIRED US UP A CONVERSATION WITH THE TAILSPINS’ OSKAR AND JULIA BUIE When we consider the expression ‘everything old is new again’, we are generally talking about addressing the issues of today, by mining the wisdom of the past. [...]
STEELEYE SPAN LIVE AT THE BOTTOM LINE, 1974 OMNIVORE RECORDINGS The English folk-rock group Steeleye Span was formed in 1969 and has been in existence, in various incarnations, ever since. The band enjoyed chart success a number of times in [...]
MARK D. DUNN – YOU GET BIGGER AS YOU GO – BRUCE COCKBURN’S INFLUENCE AND EVOLUTION FERMATA PRESS BOOK REVIEW BY BRYAN WILLISTON The writer, musician, and educator Mark D. Dunn has released a book which may be seen as the definitive [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS HEARTS & MINDS & CROOKED BEATS: SONGS OF THE CLASH SHARED MEDIUM The Clash were a hugely influential band, whose music was the soundtrack of social justice in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Fans look back fondly at the band’s [...]
DOTS OF HISTORY AND THE ARTFUL APPROACH A CONVERSATION WITH TOM ALLEN ON JS BACH’S LONG WALK IN THE SNOW The average modern listener probably gives little thought to music that was made 300 years ago. Even so, there is a long list of artists [...]
