Smokescreens Used To Yesterday Slumberland Records LA-based New Zealand-esque band “Smokescreens” hit back with their second album review, Used to Yesterday. After a careful gleaning of the album title, it could be considered ironic, seeing as [...]
SMASH Fashion Rompus Pompous Electric Pudding Records Bringing rock ‘n’ roll back? You want some classic ’70s rock/power pop guitar hooks and fresh kicks? Come get some! This aptly titled fourth album from the LA rock ‘n’ roll band [...]
Glass Tiger 31 Halo Entertainment Group Into the eye of the “Glass Tiger”… Not too many bands (let alone Canadian) can say that they’ve been together for more than 31 years, but the boys from Newmarket, Ontario can speak to that unique [...]
The Tea Party – 20 Years Of Transmission @ The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto November 30, 2017 With a career spanning decades, The Tea Party, playing on a late Thursday night at the Horseshoe Tavern’s 70th Birthday concert series, was more [...]
Jesca Hoop Memories Are Now Sub Pop Records Displaced American (now in England) singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop releases this nine-track album, Memories Are Now, to critical fanfare. Having honed her craft over the last 10 years, Jesca shows us [...]
Crystal Lake True North Artery Recordings The metalcore ebb and flow of Crystal Lake… Tokyo’s hardcore/metalcore 4-piece band Crystal Lake has been around for longer than most people realize. They’ve been around since 2002, with Ryo [...]
iHeartRadio Canada’s FIRST Jingle Ball @ The Air Canada Centre, Toronto November 25, 2016 An historical moment in Canadian Music performances! When the approval for the media accreditation came across my desk a few days ago, I nearly spat [...]
Port Juvee Crimewave Independent Despite their success and wide acclaim in 2014 with their EP Revenge, Calgary, Alberta’s own garage rocking Port Juvee have come a long way since their “Bleachers” days / radio competitions. Consisting of Brett [...]
Sam Roberts Band TerraForm Secret Brain/Universal Music Canada Enter….the TerraForm!!! It’s incredible to imagine that the Juno Award-winning Sam Roberts Band has been around since 2001 as it continues to churn out Indie / Alt rock from [...]
Hooton Tennis Club Big Box Of Chocolates Heavenly Recordings Chris X hears a Hooton! To be honest, the title of the album didn’t grab me (enter obvious Forrest Gump reference here), considering this group’s penchant for long song titles off [...]
Yellowcard Yellowcard Hopeless Records Walking off into the sunset… If you’ve consumed enough music genres through whatever means you have, then Yellowcard is a name that some audiophiles immediately recognize, and after almost 20 years of [...]
Various Artists Money Maker (2016 Re-Issue) Studio One Vibe out with this rare, reggae classic!! So here we have a re-issue of an original old school LP (and rare in Studio One’s catalogue) from 1970 (which was then a limited reissue in [...]
Deerhoof The Magic Polyvinyl Records A surreal San Francisco treat since 1994! Zany. Weird. Bizarre. Unorthodox. Quirky. Supernatural. Absurdist. Unconventional. This is the spectrum of diction that fans and newcomers would use to describe the [...]
Diarrhea Planet Turn To Gold Dine Alone Records No Sphincter Paralysis when hearing four guitars at the same time??? …Sphincter Paralysis…what an awesome name for a band….gotta remember that. Oh, hey!! I have to admit, I got [...]
Pkew Pkew Pkew Pkew Pkew Pkew Royal Mountain Records How many Pop-Punk musicians does it take to finish a two-four of beer? ZZZZZZZZZ…..hmmmmm….what? Another Pop Punk band? You’re kidding me, right? Who still listens to that [...]
Ron Hawkins Spit Sputter And Sparkle Pheromone Recordings Hawkins doesn’t sputter on this album! The Lowest Of the Low frontman Ron Hawkins skillfully crafts another album to whet the appetite of Canadian music purists with his 15th album [...]
Nada Surf You Know Who You Are Barsuk Records Life after 20 years…a softer pop sound? Having gone to their concert in Toronto on November 17th, 2015 at the Horseshoe Tavern (shameless plug) and immensely enjoying the show, I was intently [...]
The Lowest Of The Low @ The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto December 5th, 2015 Memories of 90’s jangle pop! This was the night that frontman Ron Hawkins and the gang returned to Toronto with their homecoming, high energy set to a raucous, [...]
Nada Surf @ The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto November 16th, 2015 Just what we needed….Nada Surf delivering the existential goods! At exactly 10:10pm, the band from New York City, New York brought a Horseshoe Tavern crowd back to where it all [...]
Den Sorte Skole Indians & Cowboys Independent The global Black School goes old, old school turntablism!!! No soundscape boundaries. Trying to pigeonhole these Copenhagen-based DJs in a genre is like trying to earn the respect of an online [...]
IAMX Metanoia Metropolis Records Electronic sunshine of the insomniac mind! Creating the moniker IAMX in 2004 as a way of being true to himself and being more creatively independent with his music, Chris Corner (formerly of the Sneaker Pimps), [...]
The Tea Party @ Massey Hall, Toronto September 26th, 2015 Promoting their latest album, The Ocean at the End (2014), and touring while celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Edges of Twilight during Canada’s Walk of Fame festival, The Tea [...]
Lakes Of Canada Transgressions Independent Remembering Kathleen Smith. Forged from the tragic death of Jake Smith’s mother Kathleen Smith in 2010, Montreal’s Lakes of Canada craft their second progressive / pop / folk / gospel [...]
Painted Palms Horizons Polyvinyl Records The San Fran cousins are back, with more instrumental layerings than you could shake a synth at! Reese Donahue and Christopher Prudhomme are the architects of this 10-track release, having created the [...]